The Debtor’s Blues: Music and Forced Labor
Debt peonage is often associated with agricultural labor, but in the early twentieth century, Black musicians found themselves trapped in its exploitative cycle.
Reading Between the Lines of an “Americanization” Campaign
Manuals used to teach “American” ways of homemaking in California c. 1915–1920 offer a rare opportunity to hear the voices of Mexican immigrant women.
Segregation by Eminent Domain
The Fifth Amendment allows the government to buy private property for the public good. That public good was long considered the expansion of white neighborhoods.
The Birth of the Modern American Military Hospital
The founding of Walter Reed General Hospital at the beginning of the twentieth century marked a shift in medical care for military personnel and veterans.
How Prisoners Contributed During World War II
Prisoners not only supported the war effort in surprising ways during World War II, they fought and died in it.
The Gumshoes Who Took On the Klan
In the pages of Black Mask magazine, the Continental Op and Race Williams fought the KKK even as they shared its love of vigilante justice.
American Daredevils
The nineteenth-century commitment to thrilling an audience embodied an emerging synergy of public performance, collective experience, and individual agency.
A Century of History in Five Hawaiian Prison Newspapers
Hawaiian language and culture are emphasized throughout, ranging from before statehood and during martial law to modern day women's prisons.
Eastern Kentucky University American Slavery Collection
Sixteen documents, including slave bills of sale, tell the cruel story of the enslaved lives that were listed in ledgers.
Money and Activism: Mixed Messages
During the Cold War, philanthropic paternalism put Mexican American grassroots activists in the American Southwest at odds with East Coast funding institutions.