Mermaids: Myth, Kith and Kin
Ariel epitomizes mermaids now, but these beguiling creatures precede her by millennia, sparking imaginations the world over with a hearty embrace of otherness.
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.
The Harms of Being Subjugated and Doing the Subjugation
A formerly incarcerated psychologist looks at incarceration through the lens of learned helplessness, the Stanford Prison Experiment, synapses, and power.
What If We’ve Been Misunderstanding Monsters?
Fictional evil creatures might be more nuanced—and have more to teach us—than has long seemed.
Community Cookbooks and the Women Who Wrote Them
Before "local" became a foodie obsession, small groups of women published collections of their own recipes. And still do!
The Feminist History of “Child Allowances”
The Biden administration’s proposed “child allowances” draw on the feminist thought of Crystal Eastman, who advocated “motherhood endowments” 100 years ago.
The Global History of Labor and Race: Foundations and Key Concepts
How have workers around the world sought to change their conditions, and how have racial divisions affected their efforts?
Life in the Iron Mills as Fiction of the “Close-Outsider Witness”
Rebecca Harding Davis had no firsthand experience of iron mills. Neither does her nameless narrator.
Photographer Francesca Woodman’s Haunting Dissolutions
Woodman's imagery engaged with architectural and natural landscapes that were themselves in a state of change and decay.