Nicholas Black Elk

Wounded Knee and the Myth of the Vanished Indian

The story of the 1890 massacre was often about the end of Native American resistance to US expansion. But that’s not how everyone told it.
Burning of an 80 ft. cross by the KKK, 1925

How 1920s Catholic Students Fought the Ku Klux Klan

There are few traces today of college students' resistance to anti-Catholic threats, but the ones that remain are powerful.
The 24th U.S. Infantry at drill, Camp Walker, Philippine Islands, c. 1902

The Jim Crow Army in the Philippine-American War

Some African American soldiers of the conflict thought fighting against fellow people of color was unjust.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Bulldozers Versus Biodiversity, Then and Now

Trump's border wall threatens habitats in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. What happened when the area was bulldozed in the 1950s?
The Bloody Massacre, perpetrated in King-Street, Boston, on March 5th, 1770 by Paul Revere

Crispus Attucks Needs No Introduction. Or Does He? 

The African American Patriot, who died in the Boston Massacre, was erased from visual history. Black abolitionists revived his memory.
A fallout shelter

The D-I-Y Fallout Shelter

In the 1950s and 1960s, families planning for the apocalypse often took a homespun approach.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Why Were There Still Stories of Blackface in 2019?

One of the minor themes of 2019 was the revelation that various prominent white politicians had once worn blackface. The question is: why?
Charleston Orphan House

Poor Charleston

Letters from desperate mothers to the nation's first public orphanage.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cigar_box_Peggy_O%27neal.jpg

The Mrs. Eaton Affair

A story of petticoats and power.
Women and men in the California Gold Rush, 1850

Yes, Women Participated in the Gold Rush

“Conventional wisdom tells us that the gold rush was a male undertaking,” writes the historian Glenda Riley. But women were there, too.