Liberation on the Dance Floor
Motown’s foray into gay liberation music may have been short-lived, but it made an outsized impact on queer culture.
Visualizing Trans Identities
Photography played an important role in determining gender categories and presentations for both scientists and trans individuals in interwar Germany.
What is Dance Activism?
An aesthetic of resistance and a form of protest against racist ideologies, dance activism has become a meaningful part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
When Men Join Cheer
What happens when former football players, accustomed to practicing and playing in all-male environments, join gender-integrated cheerleading squads?
Buff Boys of America: Eugen Sandow and Jesus
Under the influence of Muscular Christianity, Jesus transformed into a muscle-bound Aryan, saving souls through strength and masculinity.
Square Space
Not so fast, Wordle. The Fifteen Puzzle, a challenge that inspired poetry, has obsessed fans for more than a century.
The Forgotten Temperance Movement of the 1950s
Despite the repeal of Prohibition, alcohol consumption was an enormous political issue for many white American Protestants.
Microbots, Swamps, and the “Chitlin Circuit”
Well-researched stories from Knowable Magazine, Slate, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Patriotism and Consumerism in the Civil War
For a burgeoning consumer society, store-bought flags and bonnets offered proof that commercialism could go hand in hand with heartfelt emotion.
Challenging Race and Gender Roles, One Photo at a Time
Florestine Perrault Collins escaped the bounds of prescribed gender roles and racial segregation to run a successful photography studio in 1920s New Orleans.