The Lady Who Might Have Been Queen of England
The failed campaign to put Lady Arbella Stuart in the line of succession began with a matchmaking scheme between her two grandmothers.
The RAF on Speed: High-Flying or Flying High?
Drug use during World War II, especially by Nazis, was typically viewed as immoral. But what about when it was approved by leaders of the Royal Air Force?
African Swimmers in American Waters
Although most enslaved people worked in the fields, captive workers with strong swimming and diving skills were also exploited by plantation owners.
From Mud to the Sun: The World Tree of the Maya
Cosmic trees, found around the globe and throughout history, may represent a primeval fount of creation or a vegetal axis mundi that connects life and death.
Street Harassment in Victorian London
Middle- and upper-class women complained about “so-called gentlemen” who stared at them, blocked their paths, and followed them as they tried to shop.
A Colorblind Compromise?
“Colorblindness,” an ideology that denies that race is an organizing principle of the nation’s structural order, reaches back to the drafting of the US Constitution.
The Pardon of President Nixon: Annotated
President Ford’s unconditional pardon of Richard Nixon created political controversy. It also tarnished Ford’s own reputation with the American public.
The Working-Class Radicalism of Mississippi’s Head Start
The Child Development Group of Mississippi created jobs and fostered the political inclusion of poor African American and white communities in the South.
The Truth About Isabella Van Wagenen
Sojourner Truth’s entanglement with a dubious cult leader in New York City steadied her steps on the path for women’s rights.
Urchins of New York and Elsewhere
Remembering the Sky Parlor for lost children and the public’s fascination with those who went astray.