From the cover of The Black Mask magazine, June 1, 1923

The Gumshoes Who Took On the Klan

In the pages of Black Mask magazine, the Continental Op and Race Williams fought the KKK even as they shared its love of vigilante justice.
A woman smiles while holding bottles of various types of alcohol, including peach brandy, port wine, gin, absinthe, and forbidden fruit.

Whiskey, Women, and Work

Prohibition—and its newly created underground economy—changed the way women lived, worked, and socialized.
Lyndon B. Johnson addresses the Nation March 31, 1968

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Decision Speech: Annotated

United States President Lyndon B. Johnson’s televised announcement that he would not run for re-election shocked a nation divided by the Vietnam War.
A study of facial expression and gesture, 1823

How Upper Lips Got Stiff

The truism that “boys don’t cry” is a Western social convention. Colonialism and imperialism made sure it spread East.
Title page for Sinners in the hands of an angry God, 1741

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Annotated

Jonathan Edwards’s sermon reflects the complicated religious culture of eighteenth-century America, influenced not just by Calvinism, but Newtonian physics as well.
Police officers patrolling the streets at the start of the Birmingham Campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, May 1963.

The Police Dog As Weapon of Racial Terror

Police K-9 units in the United States emerged during the Civil Rights era. This was not a coincidence.
Doris Miller just after being presented with the Navy Cross by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, on board USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942.

Remembering Doris Miller

Following his actions at Pearl Harbor, Messman Doris Miller was the first Black sailor to be honored with the Navy Cross—but only after political pressure.
American Army Entering the City of Mexico, Filippo Constaggini, 1885

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Annotated

Signed February 2, 1848, the treaty compelled Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory, bringing more than 525,000 square miles under US sovereignty.
Krao Farini, c. 1890

Finding Krao Farini

Public discourse on the bearded lady, a staple of circus sideshow, revealed the racial biases underpinning Darwinian theory.
Black and white photo of The Boston Athenaeum by Southworth & Hawes

The Boston Athenæum

Founded in 1807, the subscription library was a gathering place for local scholars, “men of business,” and members of the upper classes in search of knowledge.