illustration of a boat on a river that was part of the dunbar-hunter expedition in 1804-1805.

Thomas Jefferson’s Gourmand Explorers

Jefferson’s government organized several western expeditions. Some carried luxurious supplies of food, some enjoyed local hospitality, and some nearly starved to death.
the Florida Archives lists the image as representing the burning of a structure in Rosewood

Remembering the Rosewood Massacre

On January 1, 1923, Rosewood, Florida, was a thriving town of mostly African American residents. Seven days later, it was gone, burned to the ground by a white mob.
Sandy Hook Lighthouse

To the Lighthouses: A Path to Nationhood

Instilling confidence among merchants and ship captains was an area in which most agreed the new federal authority could and should act.

What’s a Swastika Doing on the Cover of a 1916 Newspaper?

Changes in printing press technology and the history of the symbol may explain its presence in the Wyoming State Prison newspaper, J-A-B-S.

Wanting to Believe In Rainmakers

A form of entertainment and outgrowth of desperation, self-styled rainmakers allowed the powerless people of the Great Plains to seemingly take action.
A Northern freeman enslaved by Northern hands

Kidnappers of Color Versus the Cause of Antislavery

Thousands of free-born Black people in the North were kidnapped into slavery through networks that operated as a form of “Reverse Underground Railroad.”
A young Native American boy learns the Eagle Dance in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 1952

Understanding the Indian Child Welfare Act

The ICWA wasn’t implemented perfectly, but it reversed a centuries-old pattern of removing Native children from their families and their tribes.
Women strike for peace, picket march in front of state building in Los Angeles, 1961

HUAC versus Women Strike for Peace

American leftists were hamstrung by the Cold War’s domestic clampdown on communism, but in the 1960s, Women Strike for Peace re-wrote the book of dissent.
Lodgers in a Crowded Bayard Street Tenement. Photo by Jacob Riis

When Lodgers Were “Evil”

A wave of immigration from eastern and southern Europe transformed urban landscapes, creating crowded tenements that stoked humanitarian concerns.
A detail of an illustration depicting a husband and wife chained together and fighting in a courtroom

The Lost History of No-Fault Divorces

The regulation of divorce has changed a lot in the twentieth century. The National Association of Women Lawyers was instrumental in making that change happen.