Cultural systems have historically defined sex segregation. The imperfect science has led to failures in policing gender in sports.

Free to Be... You and Me was meant to help rear a generation free of sexist stereotypes. Fifty years on, some of its well-intentioned messages are worn around the edges.

Tomatoes, once believed by Americans to be poisonous, became an unquestioned staple of a healthy diet thanks to doctors and popular cookbooks.

A study on the criminalization of abortion in the late 1800s through the 1940s reveals that the law was often used against working-class women.

Well-researched stories from Smithsonian Magazine, The Conversation, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Organized movements to bring racial equality to the golf course have been part of the sport since the early 1900s.

Intentional communities provide opportunities for unhoused residents, but they also draw institutional criticism.

Puerto Rico was hit hard by the Great Depression. New Deal relief programs were often democratic and locally controlled.

Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper worked within the constraints of Victorian society, building a writing career and a relationship under an assumed name.

Motown’s foray into gay liberation music may have been short-lived, but it made an outsized impact on queer culture.