The Year The Grammys Honored Disco
In 1980, The Grammys gave disco its own category, but the genre was already receding into invisibility.
Captain America and Wonder Woman, Anti-Fascist Heroes
Who needs black clothing to fight fascism when red, white, and blue will do quite nicely?
Hollywood Cast Laurette Luez as a One-Size-Fits-All “Exotic”
Like many actresses of her day, Laurette Luez was expected to be a beautiful siren in skimpy clothing who could be from almost anywhere—just not here.
Selling Hedonism in Postwar America
The hedonism of American consumer culture is the result of deliberate efforts by mid-twentieth century marketing experts.
Maps Showed People Their Worlds
In the 19th century, most Americans weren't used to seeing maps of their communities. New forms of color lithography changed all that.
When Gardens Replaced Children
Historian Robin Veder explains that the way we associate female nurturing with gardens goes back to the way ideas about gender and work changed in the mid-nineteenth century.
A Garden of One’s Own
As the suburbs emerged in the 19th century, middle-class women, barred from waged labor, took to their gardens to remain productive.
Visual Literacy in the Age of Open Content
We need a visual literacy to help us negotiate new ways of seeing, but also new ways of accessing, manipulating, and reusing visual content.
Word to your Mother (Tongue): Can Hip Hop Save Endangered Languages?
Hip hop is not only linguistically innovative, it helps preserve indigenous languages via oral tradition.