Bill of Rights, 1791

The Bill of Rights: Annotated

Proposed as a compromise to ensure the ratification of the new US Constitution, the Bill of Rights has become a critical protector of civil liberties.
Woman tending to vegetable beds while working on a farm

How the Land Is Passed

A transatlantic story of Black land, loss, and resistance.
Illustration from a poster of the first issue stamp celebrating the Mendez v. Westminster School District case

Mendez v. Westminster and Mexican American Desegregation

International relations and foreign influence helped end legal segregation of Mexican American students in California after World War II.
Wild timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) on train tacks at sunrise, Florida

Actual American Rattlesnakes

Historians are recovering the overlooked history of North America’s Crotalus horridus, the timber rattlesnake.
President Truman addresses the closing session of the 38th annual conference of the NAACP at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C., 1947

Why Did Truman Support Civil Rights?

Truman’s domestic agenda attempted to solve the problem of Black American oppression while undermining the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Plaque of Marbury v. Madison at SCOTUS Building

Marbury v. Madison: Annotated

Justice John Marshall’s ruling on Marbury v. Madison gave the courts the right to declare acts and laws of the legislative and executive branches unconstitutional.
A view of the New United States embassy in London, England. Circa 1950.

Whatever Happened to London’s “Little America”?

Since the time of John Adams, the first US Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Grosvenor Square has been the locus of the American government in Britain.
Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ca. 1900-1915

Take Me Out to the Class Game: Social Stratification in the Stadium

The private boxes for the privileged few in today’s baseball stadiums are nothing new.
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran sits and talks with American president John F. Kennedy, 1963

The Shah, Our Man in Tehran?

Playing up the threat of the communist incursions, the Shah of Iran gained more and more support—financial and political—from the United States.
Mohammad Mosaddeq, 1951

US–Iran Relations: 1953

What really happened in Iran back in the day, and what did the United States have to do with it?