Inventing the “Illegal Alien”
What's an illegal alien? The idea that the most important question about immigrants is their legal status is a relatively new one.
Public Baths Were Meant to Uplift the Poor
In Progressive-Era New York, a now-forgotten trend of public bathhouses was introduced in order to cleanse the unwashed masses.
Two Women of the African Slave Resistance
African women, always a minority in the slave trade, often had to find their own ways of rebellion against slavery if they could.
The Devastation of Black Wall Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 1921. A wave of racial violence destroys an affluent African-American community, seen as a threat to white-dominated American capitalism.
Why Stonewall?
The Stonewall riot in June, 1969 is generally remembered as be the beginning of the gay liberation movement. But there was precedent for the event.
Why Modernist Women Liked Cross-Dressing
Women pioneers of modernism like Gertrude Stein, Frida Kahlo, Radclyffe Hall, & Djuna Barnes found cross-dressing a blessing in disguise.
Was Christine Jorgensen the Caitlyn Jenner of the 1950s?
“What is femininity anyway?” Jenner writes in her new book, The Secrets of My Life. Perhaps the famous trans woman Christine Jorgensen knew.
How World’s Fairs Helped Train Southern Suffragists
There’s no cultural touchstone quite like an exhibition or fair—think the Great Exhibition of 1851, which introduced the ...
“A refusal by subjects to obey”: Gene Sharp’s Theory of Nonviolence
Gene Sharp, repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, has been called the "Machiavelli of nonviolence" and the "Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare."
Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement
Women leaders of the Civil Rights movement worked under the triple constraints of gender, race, and class. Their contribution hasn't gotten its due.