Mughal ruler Humayun defeating the Afghans before reconquering India, folio from an Akbar-nama (Book of Akbar) of Abu’l Fazl, ca. 1590

How Horses Shaped the Mughal Empire

The quest for powerful horses reshaped trade and diplomacy across early modern South Asia.
Leather hides drying on tannery rooftop in Kolkata, india

Caste and Culture in Kolkata’s Chinese Leather Trade

In eastern Kolkata, a Hakka Chinese community carved out an economic niche in leather production amid stigma surrounding purity and caste hierarchy.
Diagram of the Border Patrol’s intrusion detection system.

The Long History of High-Tech Border Policing

In the 1970s, sensors and computers turned the US–Mexico border into a testing ground for automated control.

Building Brasília

A twentieth-century experiment in urban planning promised progress—but carried immense financial and human costs.
JSTOR Daily Women's History Month Header

Celebrating Women’s History Month

Celebrate Women’s History Month with JSTOR Daily. We hope you’ll find the stories below a valuable resource for classroom or leisure reading.
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison nearly being lynched in October 1835

Defying Slave Hunters in Boston’s Courts

A dramatic 1836 courtroom escape shows how Black women challenged slave hunters—and Boston’s elite.
A bride in Guangzhou, China, photographed by by John Thomson,1869.

The Wedding Ritual Where Brides Wept in Song

In southern China, weddings once began with a ritual that let brides speak the unspeakable.
Isaac Sears addressing the mob

When Profit Met Protest in Colonial New York

Economic self-interest shaped how New Yorkers responded to British taxes and imperial crackdowns.
A man and woman in office attire discuss something against a gray and orange background.

How Gender Discrimination Works at Work

A study of employment discrimination cases reveals how bias operates through workplace rules.
A herd of Buffalo in Western Kansas, 1860s

Drought and Indigenous Migration in the American Midwest

In the seventeenth century, life at the prairie–forest edge was dynamic, unstable, and deeply shaped by climate.