Where Did the Term “Hispanic” Come From?
"Hispanic" as the name of an ethnicity is contested today. But the category arose from a political need for unity.
Criminal Minds? Try Criminal Bodies
Cesare Lombroso wanted to use science to understand who criminals were. But his ideas about biological "atavism" easily transferred to eugenics and nativism.
A Century of Black Youth Activism
The history of the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights Movement is widely studied, but young Black Americans have been organizing for justice for much longer.
What Was Women’s Liberation?
The short-lived radical movement within feminism has gotten a bad reputation for centering white women's experiences. Is that deserved?
Hair, Gender, and Social Status in Ancient Egypt
Egyptian tomb chapels depict men, women, and children of different ranks in society. What can their hairstyles tell us about their lives?
The Paris Morgue Provided Ghoulish Entertainment
With its huge windows framing the corpses on display, the morgue bore an uncomfortable resemblance to a department store.
Anti-Imperialist Propaganda Posters from OSPAAAL
OSPAAAL, the international, pro-communist organization formed in 1966, decried American imperialism with powerful propaganda.
The Alpha Suffrage Club and Black Women’s Fight for the Vote
Black women’s experiences in the suffrage movement show that the Nineteenth Amendment marked one event in the fight for the vote, not an endpoint.
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.
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.