Two Peranakan women at a tin factory in Pulau Singkep, Riau Islands.

Keeping the Baba-Nyonya Culture of Penang Alive

Identity consciousness among Malaysian Chinese Peranakans is on the rise as the Babas and Nyonyas seek to celebrate and preserve their unique heritage.
A study of facial expression and gesture, 1823

How Upper Lips Got Stiff

The truism that “boys don’t cry” is a Western social convention. Colonialism and imperialism made sure it spread East.
Dora Barrios, Frances Silva, and Lorena Encinas held in the Los Angeles County Jail during the 1943 Sleepy Lagoon Trial

Pachuca Rebels in 1940s Los Angeles

Like their zoot suit-wearing male counterparts, young Mexican American women rebelled against white, mainstream culture through bold fashion choices.
Ruby Bridges

Chainlink Chronicle: Celebrating Black History in Louisiana

An exploration of one prison newspaper’s commitment to celebrating Black History with a unique focus on its home state.
A Black soldier of the 12th Armored Division stands guard over a group of Nazi prisoners captured in the surrounding German forest, April 1945

Prisoners Like Us: German POW and Black American Solidarity

During World War II, almost a half million POWs were interned in the United States, where they forged sympathetic relationships with Black American soldiers.
Tommie Smith, John Carlos and other members of US team give the Black power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics

Black Power on British TV

International television coverage of the American Civil Rights struggle was critical in the construction of racial identity and experience in postwar Britain.
The first edition cover of "Red Cavalry" by Isaac Babel

Isaac Babel’s Red Cavalry

Set during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1920, Babel’s novel captured the indiscriminate violence and injustice of warfare.
An advertising card for White, Warner & Co. Stoves and Ranges

How Stovemakers Helped Invent Modern Marketing

Most people in the United States have a stove in their kitchen. But how did this “must-have” come to be?
Fireworks and shouts of joy emanate from Tahrir Square after a broadcast by the head of the Egyptian military confirming that they will temporarily be taking over from the country's first democratically elected president Mohammed Morsi on July 3, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt.

An Overview d’état: Are Coups Democracy in Action?

Coups in autocracies are frequently followed by elections, which are then followed by new coup attempts. Why do elections increase coup risk?
Eiffel Tower, August 1888

The Artists Who Hated the Eiffel Tower

Now an icon of modernism and avant-garde design, the Eiffel Tower was once seen by Parisian writers and artists as a blight on the cityscape.