Kuwasi Balagoon

The Real Story of Black Anarchists

Often in the news today, anarchism is widely misunderstood. One myth is that it's a movement for white people.
Bhagat Singh Thind in his U.S. Army Uniform, 1918

How “Prerequisite Cases” Tried to Define Whiteness

A law of 1790 said that only "free white persons" were eligible to be naturalized. But courts struggled for years afterward to tell who was white at all.
The Book of Miracles, c. 1550

The Long History of Comet Phobia

Even the invention of the telescope couldn't convince all people to put aside superstitions about comets.
A poster supporting the Anti-Rent Movement, 1839

Rural Rent Wars of the 1840s

Anti-rent rebellions in New York State helped to shatter the two-party political system in the nineteenth century.
Chicano Moratorium Committee antiwar demonstrators, East Los Angeles, 1970

Police Versus the Chicano Moratorium March of 1970

Despite police violence against Chicano demonstrators in Los Angeles, the movement was not deterred.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 1941

Suppressing Native American Voters

South Dakota has been called "the Mississippi of the North" for its long history of making voting hard for Native Americans.
City Federation of Colored Women's Clubs of Jacksonville, State Meeting, Palatka, Florida

Women’s Clubs and the “Lost Cause”

Women's clubs were popular after the Civil War among white and Black women. But white clubwomen used their influence to ingrain racist curriculum in schools.
A 19th century advertisement for fish glue

Isinglass; or, The Many Miracles of Fish Glue

Isinglass comes from the swim bladders of certain kinds of fish and can be found in everything from beer recipes to illuminated manuscripts. Ew? No way.
Henry Ford

The Text That Stoked Modern Antisemitism

What's the history of the vicious The Protocols of the Elders of Zion?
Le Passage des Brisants à Hawaï

Did White People Really Revive Surfing?

Contrary to the widespread idea that white missionaries stamped out the sport, evidence suggests that Native Hawai‘ians never stopped surfing.