Island in the Potomac
Steps from Georgetown, a memorial to Teddy Roosevelt stands amid ghosts of previous inhabitants: the Nacotchtank, colonist enslavers, and the emancipated.
Colonial Masquerade: Convict, Pirate, Gentleman, Con
The convict ships that colonized Australia carried people desperate to get out of their sentence. At least, that was true of Michael Stewart.
Self Care and Community in 1901 Indianapolis
For Black women engaged with local institutions, the “Delsarte” technique was a means of supporting struggling city residents while advancing political power.
Home Front: Black Women Unionists in the Confederacy
The resistance and unionism of enslaved and freed Black women in the midst of the Confederacy is an epic story of sacrifice for nation and citizenship.
An Epitaph for Fido
Pet cemeteries document how humans’ relationships with their pets—and their deaths—have evolved since the Victorian era.
Museum Roots
The founders of Black American museums in the post-World War II era were all shaped by Carter G. Woodson’s “Negro Canon” of history and art.
Celebrating Black History Month
JSTOR Daily editors pick their favorite stories for Black History Month.
The Cost of Inflation in Prison
In prisons across the country, the long history of legal forced labor intersects with present-day inflation.
How Beer Came to Asia
Reactions to the introduced brew ranged from Japanese efforts to imitate German beers to a reluctance to imbibe among Muslims and Hindus in India.
Dubious Medicine on the Texas Frontier
If you got sick in the Texas frontier area in the decades before the Civil War, your options were all pretty bad.