“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.
Class Production
A collection of high school yearbooks from Cleveland captures the rise, fall, and uncertain future of the American middle class.
Proposition 6 (The Briggs Initiative): Annotated
Proposition 6, better known as the Briggs Initiative, was the first attempt to restrict the rights of lesbian and gay Americans by popular referendum.
Teaching Race at School
Shaken by Nazi propaganda, educators tried to teach anti-racist lessons in the 30s-40s. Their methods, however, would be considered very problematic today.
A Progressive College’s Complicated Relationship with Race
Oberlin College was founded by religious idealists committed to abolitionism and integration. Then public attitudes began to shift.
Long Live Mister Rogers’ Quiet Revolution
Fred Rogers argued by example and in his quiet, firm way that television’s power could be harnessed to shape future generations for good.
How Native Americans Taught Both Assimilation and Resistance at Indian Schools
In the nineteenth century, many Native American children attended “Indian schools” designed to blot out Native cultures in favor of Anglo assimilation.
Gamification, Then and Now
Nineteenth-century board games help to map public morality, from religious virtue to upward mobility.
Before Helen Keller, There Was Laura Bridgman
Before Helen Keller, there was Laura Bridgman, the first blind and deaf woman who learned to communicate through language.
The Problem of School Discipline in the Twenties
Teachers, especially women, faced social pressure in both directions when it came to school discipline in the 1920s.