An illustration for Jesse James at Long Branch in the magazine Log Cabin Library, 1898.

The Murder Ballad Was the Original True Crime Podcast

The 1896 version of crime sensationalism also taught the victim-blaming lesson “Stay Sexy, Don’t Get Murdered.”
Cigarmakers, Tampa, Florida, 1909 by Lewis Hine

Are Children “Persons”?

In the mid-nineteenth century, the law was ambiguous.
A map of Illinois from 1894

The Meaning of Racist Place Names

In one river town in central Illinois, a wetlands called N— Lake was scapegoated for destructive flooding.
Eric LoPresti

Some Plants Use Stickiness to Fend off Hungry Insects

For some sand-dwelling plants, stickiness is a defense tactic that keeps predators at bay.
Zora Neale Hurston, 1937

Zora Neale Hurston

In a controversial letter, the versatile author expressed frustration with critics of segregation.
A woman's hand holding a turkey baster

Notes on Queer Conception and the Redefinition of Family

Feminist scholars refer to the “intensely communal, queer, and playful nature” of DIY LGBTQ conception, but Fertility, Inc. is another story.
English designer and typographer Roger Huddle with collaborators holding posters for 'Rock against Racism' and 'RAR/Anti Nazi League Carnival', London, UK, 27th April 1978

How Rock against Racism Fought the Right

A rising tide of violence and bigotry in the 1970s infected the British music scene. A group of musicians organized to resist.
New Orleans, 1939

How St. Louis Domestic Workers Fought Exploitation

Without many legal protections under the New Deal, Black women organized through the local Urban League.
A funny fisheye image of a zoned out kitty rolling in loose catnip.

Catnip, Conspiracy, and Forest Defense

Well-researched stories from Science Magazine, Knowable Magazine, and other publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
New York, 1855

How One Household Avoided Emancipation Laws

The Volunbruns enslaved twenty people and moved relentlessly between empires and states as more jurisdictions outlawed slavery.