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Black and white headshot of author Livia Gershon

Livia Gershon

Livia Gershon is a freelance writer in Nashua, New Hampshire. Her writing has appeared in publications including Salon, Aeon Magazine and the Good Men Project. Contact her on Twitter @liviagershon.

Florence Nightingale
Health

How Courageous Should Nurses Have to Be?

According to three scholars, it's asking a lot for health care professionals to be completely selfless.
Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor: 12th & 13th of April, 1861
Politics & History

How the Civil War Got Its Name

From "insurrection" to "rebellion" to "Civil War," finding a name for the conflict was always political.
A large group of Native Americans stage a protest over land rights by occupying the Bureau of Indian Affairs building and steps in front, Washington DC, November 6, 1972.
Politics & Government

Native Nations and the BIA: It’s Complicated

Historically, relations between Native Americans and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been contentious. Is that still the case?
A dramatic portrayal of the 1856 attack and severe beating of Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina.
Politics & History

Political Divisions Led to Violence in the U.S. Senate in 1856

The horrific caning of Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate in 1856 marked one of the most divisive moments in U.S. political history.
A person's palms presented to the camera
Health

The Trouble with “Native DNA”

Genetic testing to determine who is Native American is problematic, argues Native American studies scholar Kim TallBear.
A girl scout troupe marching in parade in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in the 1960s
Education

Desegregating the Girl Scouts

The Girl Scouts had always professed that they were open to all girls. But how did that play out in segregated cities?
Two arms with tattoos
Education & Society

Why Does the Bible Forbid Tattoos?

And have we been misinterpreting Leviticus?
Two boys selling newspapers outside of a saloon
Politics & History

How Women Lost Status in Saloons

During World War I, anti-vice crusaders marked women who liked the nightlife as shady. You can tell by the way men started talking about them.
Illustration: An illustration from the cover of Warm Worlds and Otherwise by James Tiptree, Jr. Source: Ballantine
Arts & Culture

James Tiptree Jr. and Joanna Russ: Sci-Fi Pen Pals

The two feminist authors corresponded about writing and romance, especially after Tiptree's true identity leaked.
Two pages from the Kaufmann Mishneh Torah, 1296
Arts & Culture

How to Revive a Dead Language

Although it was the language of sacred texts and ritual, modern Hebrew wasn't spoken in conversation till the late nineteenth century.
Still Life with a Peacock Pie
Education & Society

The Joy of Eating in Utopia

The early socialist Charles Fourier had grand ideas about food. The pleasure of eating was right up there with sex.
A cowboy pulling a sleigh of gifts
Business

The Rise and Fall of Montana’s Christmas-Tree Harvest

Douglas firs weren't great for lumber, but they once made the small town of Eureka the Christmas-tree capital of America.
Roald Dahl
Arts & Culture

Roald Dahl’s Anti-Black Racism

The first edition of the beloved novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featured "pygmy" characters taken from Africa.
Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus
Politics & History

Santa and Mrs. Claus and the Christmas War of the Sexes

In the late nineteenth century, bachelor Santa got married. Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Claus contributed uncompensated labor to the Claus household.
A woman in a soviet house
Politics & History

Early Television in the Soviet Union

Communist Party officials saw potential in the new technology in the 1950s. So did ordinary people, but not always in the same way.
Two Khasi girls in traditional dress at the Shad Suk Mynsiem dance, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Politics & History

What Does It Mean to Be a Matriarchy?

Using the definition that European theorists invented in the nineteenth century may not work for every society, like the Khasi.
A seminole town
Politics & History

The History of the Black Seminoles

The community's resilient history speaks of repeated invasions and resistance to enslavement.
An illustration from America's story for America's children, 1900
Education

How (Not) to Teach Kids about Native Cultures

Even well-intentioned books for children can romanticize (or demonize) Native Americans. But better materials exist.
Edward Drinker Cope
Politics & History

The Bizarre Theories of the American School of Evolution

The paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope condemned women's suffrage and Black Americans through an evolutionary lens.
Illustration: An arithmetic class at a school in London, England. Published in the Illustrated London News, October 3, 1891 Source: Getty
Education

Why Would Parents Oppose Compulsory Education?

In Victorian England, reformers thought all children should go to school. That didn't sit well with everyone—and not just kids.
Pensive Caucasian man sitting on sofa near window
Health

How the Internet Changed Chronic Illness

Online communities show that isolation doesn't have to define the experience of having a chronic disease.
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles Clockwise from left: Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White.
Education

Music Education and the Birth of Motown

Music teachers in the Detroit public schools paved the way for the success of future Motown artists like Smokey Robinson and Mary Wilson of the Supremes.
Cinnamon sticks and powder
Politics & History

The Desperate Quest for American Cinnamon

Centuries ago, Europeans went to extreme and horrific lengths in search of the spice.
An illustration of a voodoo dance, 1883
Politics & History

Racism and the Fear of “Voodoo”

During Reconstruction, lurid tales of African-derived religious practices in Louisiana made news all over the country—especially when worshipers included white women.
Garlic
Politics & History

Garlic and Social Class

Immigrants from southern Italy were stereotyped for their use of the aromatic vegetable.

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