Poling Hotel and Saloon Laurelville OH Approx 1903

What Red Light Ladies Reveal About the American West

Prostitution and sex work are useful metric for historians seeking insight into the American West.
1901 poster for Cinco de Mayo: "May 5, 1862 and the siege of Puebla"

On Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

Thinking of celebrating Cinco de Mayo at your school this year? Learn from history about some of the potentially insensitive pitfalls.
Carnegie Hall

A Critical Look at Gilded Age Philanthropy

The 125th anniversary of the opening of Carnegie Hall on May 5th provides an opportunity to examine Andrew Carnegie's legacy and philanthropy.
A collage of old black and white mugshots

The Right to Legal Counsel

Adequate legal counsel is not provided to many of the poor accused of crimes.
Independent voters

Who Are the Independent Voters?

The voting patterns of actual independents have long been a topic of study. Who are they, and how do they actually vote?
Socialists in Union Square, N.Y.C. May 1, 1912

How Labor Lost May Day

At the turn of the century, May 1 was a time for radical labor protests. During WWI, May Day was replaced by the more nationalistic Labor Day.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Sugar cane plantation; [Jamaica.]" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 27, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-94a7-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Sugar Has Always Been Bad

Sugar long had a bad reputation because of its connection to slavery in the New World.
Louisiana Purchase

The Politics of the Louisiana Purchase

In a treaty signed in Paris on April 30, France swapped 828,000 square miles of North America to the U.S. for $15 million.
Hulk Hogan (left) and Nick Denton (right)

How Hulk Hogan v. Gawker May Change the Face of Journalism

The recent Gawker vs. Hogan spat is the latest in the long history of journalism, free speech, gossip, and the law.
Woodpulp pile

Pulp Nonfiction: The Unlikely Origin of American Mass Media

How wood pulp paper created the American mass media.