Liz Tracey

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 while Martin Luther King and others look on

The Voting Rights Act 1965: Annotated

The passing of the Voting Rights Act in August 1965 prohibited the use of Jim Crow laws and discriminatory tests to disenfranchise Black voters.

Annotations

Harvey Milk’s Gay Freedom Day Speech: Annotated

Five months before his assassination in 1978, Harvey Milk called on the president of the United States to defend the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.

Photograph: Chinese workers on the Oregon and California Railroad, circa 1888.

Source: Getty

Annotations

The Chinese Exclusion Act: Annotated

The passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 marked the first time the United States prohibited immigration based on ethnicity and national origin.

Annotations

The Combahee River Collective Statement: Annotated

The Black feminist collective's 1977 statement has been a bedrock document for academics, organizers and theorists for 45 years.

A gold coin commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar

Politics & History

Beware the Ides of March. (But Why?)

Everybody remembers that the Ides of March was the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. But what does it mean, and why that day?

Dr Martin Luther King Jr (1929 - 1968) waves to the crowd of more than 200,000 people gathered on the Mall after delivering his 'I Have a Dream' speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington DC, 28th August 1963.

Annotations

“I Have a Dream”: Annotated

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s iconic speech, annotated with relevant scholarship on the literary, political, and religious roots of his words.

Health

Only Love Can Break Your Heart?

Broken heart syndrome, or Takotsubo syndrome, is thought to be caused by stress. It seems to be on the increase during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A print based on David Gilmour Blythe's fanciful painting of Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation

Annotations

The Emancipation Proclamation: Annotated

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in America on January 1, 1863. Today, we've annotated the Emancipation Proclamation for readers.

Facsimile of the original draft of the United States Declaration of Independence with images of the signers around the border.

Annotations

The Declaration of Independence: Annotated

Related links to free scholarly context on JSTOR for the foundational document in American government.

Reading Lists

A Science Reader for COVID-19

Covering concepts from spillover to virus mutation, this collection of free-to-access readings provides scientific context around the COVID-19 pandemic.

T helper cells and interleukin molecules

Health

Cytokine Storms: The Cruel Irony of an Immune Response

When bodies fight back against infection, they can overwhelm themselves with their own destructive force.

A series of torn up academic papers against a blue background

Health

Preprints, Science, and the News Cycle

Preprints are academic papers that haven't been peer-reviewed yet. When preprints make news, that's often overlooked.

Education & Society

What’s Behind the Very Real Butch Quarantine Hair Crisis?

What's a masculine lesbian to do when her hair starts getting too long? Look at history for inspiration.

Health

Viral Mutation for the Perplexed

We all know viruses mutate. But how does that happen, and what does it mean for how we can treat diseases caused by viruses?

Quaran, the official quarantine mascot of Japan

Education

There’s a Mascot for That? Cute COVID-19 Education

How to get people to stay healthy during a quarantine? Some countries have taken to a new communications strategy, and it's super cute.

Health

Dogs and Cancer

Because we share many of the same cell types with our pets, they develop some of the same cancers. Comparative oncologists study these parallels.

The North Ronaldsay or Orkney sheep is a breed from North Ronaldsay, the northernmost island of Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland.

Plants & Animals

Sheep Snarf Seaweed at the Scottish Seashore

A seaweed-only diet seems to curb methane emissions in sheep on a tiny island in Scotland.

Many cassiopea xamachana, upside down jellyfish

Plants & Animals

Upside-Down Jellyfish and the Mucus of Death

You could get stung by a jellyfish even when there don't seem to be any around. Meet Cassiopea xamachana and its "stinging water" weirdness.

Plants & Animals

Biomimicry Comes for the Noble Hedgehog

Inventors often use animals' adaptations to the environment in applications that benefit humans, from sharky swimsuits to hedgehog-inspired helmets.

The cover page of Rebecca Lee Crumpler's book

Health

The “Doctress” Was In: Rebecca Lee Crumpler

The first Black woman physician served communities in the South after the Civil War but was buried in an anonymous grave. That will likely change.

Natural Science

The Chemist Whose Work Was Stolen from Her

The Black scientist Alice Ball helped develop a treatment for leprosy in the early twentieth century. But someone else took the credit.

Mathematics

The Black Mathematician Who Resisted Nuclear War

J. Ernest Wilkins Jr. worked on the Manhattan Project and signed a petition that the bomb not be used before Japan was offered terms of surrender.

Natural Science

Margaret S. Collins, Pioneering Black Entomologist

She was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in entomology as well as an activist for freedom in the Civil Rights Movement.

A puffin carrying tree branches in it's mouth

Plants & Animals

Puffins Seen Using Tools, Breaking Dumb-Puffin Stereotypes

Reputed to be a less intelligent bird species, puffins have been observed scratching themselves with sticks.

Natural Science

Take These Teenage Dinosaurs Seriously!

Paleontologists recently solved the riddle of whether two fossil specimens were young T. rexes or a whole different species.

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