Harriet Taylor Mill, At Last
When you're married to John Stuart Mill, whatever you do or say may be held against you. And so it was.
Music Education and the Birth of Motown
Music teachers in the Detroit public schools paved the way for the success of future Motown artists like Smokey Robinson and Mary Wilson of the Supremes.
Diane di Prima
The Italian American poet and artist's “willingness to speak” about what was culturally unspeakable was a liberation.
The Desperate Quest for American Cinnamon
Centuries ago, Europeans went to extreme and horrific lengths in search of the spice.
The D-I-Y Origins of Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead’s production story reads like a means to an end: a rag-tag group of creatives makes a movie on nothing to get noticed.
The Poem That Inspired Radical Black Women to Organize
Beah Richards is best known as an actor, but in 1951 she wrote a sweeping poem that influenced the Civil Rights Movement.
The Colonization of the Ayahuasca Experience
“If someone is from the Amazon,” says Evgenia Fotiou, an anthropologist who studies Western ayahuasca usage, “they bring some legitimacy” to an ayahuasca ritual.
Racism and the Fear of “Voodoo”
During Reconstruction, lurid tales of African-derived religious practices in Louisiana made news all over the country—especially when worshipers included white women.
Building A Better Democracy?
Metaphors of construction have been popular in American history from the start. How come?
Furry Livestock, Scary Stories, and Octopus Perception
Well-researched stories from Artnet News, Wired, and other publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.