Leading the Klu Klux Klan parade which was held in Washington, D.C.

The Ku Klux Klan Used to Be Big Business

At the height of its business operations, in 1923, the Klu Klux Klan was worth roughly $12 million dollars. 
Mrs. Rose O'Brine works in the bookstore at the John Birch Society in Belmont, Mass., April 14, 1976. (AP Photo/J. Walter Green)

John Birch Had Nothing to Do with the John Birch Society

The real John Birch, the first American casualty of the Cold War, would not have been pleased with his name becoming the beacon of the extreme Right.
Port Gibson, Mississippi, August 1940.

Racism and American Exceptionalism

America's domestic policies have been motivated by racist policies that began even before the anti-welfare arguments of the Reagan era. 
Eddie Aikau

Eddie Aikau: The Rad Life of a Hawaiian Surfing Legend

Eddie Aikau was a surfing legend during a time when Hawaiian legends were being resurrected. As a lifeguard, he attempted more than 500 daring rescues.
Canisters of paint

Before Flint: How Americans Chose Lead Poisoning

The United States, unlike other Western nations, did not take a firm stance on lead-based products until much later--despite knowing the health risks. 
Grandchildren of slaves.

A Formerly Enslaved Woman Successfully Won a Case for Reparations in 1783

In one of the earliest examples of reparations, an ex-slave named Belinda petitioned the government and was granted an annuity.
It is the bean, that we mean, so white and lean.

What It Was Like To Be an African-American Soldier During the Civil War

What was it like to be one of the 186,017 African Americans who served in the Union Army during the Civil War?
Blackfish. G. H. Nickerson, Provincetown, Cape Cod Views.

Why Don’t Americans Eat Whale?

Whales have been used for everything but meat in this country. Why is that?
The road to liberty; a station on the Underground Railroad.

The Secret Order Behind the Underground Railroad

William Lambert and George De Baptiste, free-born black men, used the underground railroad to help slaves escape to British Canada. 
Close range handgun

Why Do Some States Have Citizen Militias While Others Don’t?

The occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon and subsequent arrest of Ammon Bundy has once again drawn ...