Revolutionary Atrocity
For the Americans, narratives about the savagery of the British became an important part of nation-building and a moral justification for armed rebellion.
Thai American Life in Los Angeles
Or, what the Wat Thai temple tussle in the San Fernando Valley teaches us about public space in America.
The Blu’s Hanging Controversy
Some have argued that the 1997 novel Blu's Hanging perpetuates East Asian racism against Filipinos while undermining criticism through violent sexuality.
“Now We Can Begin”: Annotated
To mark the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, activist Crystal Eastman described the path to full freedom for American women.
The Triumphalism of American Wild West Shows
From the 1880s to the 1930s, hundreds of Wild West shows encouraged white audiences to view Native American culture as a rapidly vanishing curiosity.
From Bond Maid to Pioneering Chinese Businesswoman
Raised as a servant girl, Lai Ngan grew up to become a cigar maker, own a boarding house, and run grocery stores in the American Southwest.
Japanese American Wives and the Sex Industry
Japanese American immigrant wives in the American West attempted to improve their living conditions through sex work.
Native Origin Stories As Tools of Conquest
In the nineteenth century, the Euro-American “Lost Tribes of Israel” theory was one of the most popular explanations for the existence of Indigenous peoples.
How Strong of a Nuclear Bomb Could Humans Make?
The biggest nuclear blast in history came courtesy of Tsar Bomba. We could make something at least 100 times more powerful.
The Nashville Museum of Natural and Artificial Curiosities
Inspired by Peale’s Philadelphia Museum, artist and collector Ralph E. W. Earl founded a similar institution in Tennessee in 1818.