Crystal Eastman

“Now We Can Begin”: Annotated

To mark the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, activist Crystal Eastman described the path to full freedom for American women.
Spoonful of soil

The Question of Geophagy: Why Eat Dirt?

Scientists have three theories about why people and animals eat dirt.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Game, Saw, Conquered: Nationalism in Indonesian Video Games

Whether in cutscenes or gameplay, multi-player video games can help rewrite history or encourage an investment in national sovereignty.
Recreation of a Cucuteni-Trypillian house burning

“Burned House” Mystery: Why Did This Ancient Culture Torch Its Own Homes Every 60 Years?

The arsons were no accident, archaeological evidence suggests.
Rural broadband illustration

Public Media and the Infrastructure of Democracy

Federal support for broadband expansion reflects the understanding that communication is as vital as roadways to the republic.
Storage jar by Dave the Potter

Dave the Potter’s Mark on History

An enslaved African American in South Carolina did the unthinkable, writing his name on the walls of his vessels—and forever inscribing history.
Buffalo Bill's wild West and congress of rough riders of the world

The Triumphalism of American Wild West Shows

From the 1880s to the 1930s, hundreds of Wild West shows encouraged white audiences to view Native American culture as a rapidly vanishing curiosity.

Hip Hop, Fire, and Fish Meal

Well-researched stories from Vox, Hakai Magazine, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
A pork-butcher's shop

Meat and the Free Market

Significant political changes in three major global cities fueled experimentation with laissez-faire economics, which had peculiar effects on the meat market.
Elizabeth Kapuʻuwailani Lindsey with her mentor, navigator-priest Pius "Mau" Piailug. Photo by Nick Kato

Pius “Mau” Piailug: Master Navigator of Micronesia

Mau used traditional skills to guide a canoe from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti, sharing his navigational knowledge with others to keep the wayfinding traditions alive.