Class Production
A collection of high school yearbooks from Cleveland captures the rise, fall, and uncertain future of the American middle class.
Secret Societies and the Fight for Black Freedom
Dating to the pre-Revolutionary era, mutual aid and benevolent societies supported Black Americans and the fight for civil rights and justice.
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.
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.
One Parallel for the Coronavirus Crisis? The Great Depression
“The idea that the federal government would be providing emergency relief and emergency work was extraordinary,” one sociologist said. “And people liked it.”
Racial Violence as Impetus for the Great Migration
Historians traditionally point to economic and social conditions as the primary causes for the Great Migration, but racist hate crimes played a role as well.
Colleges’ Reluctant Embrace of MLK Day
The push for a national Martin Luther King holiday prompted a fierce political tug-of-war, on campus and off.
The Birth of the “Policed Society”
Over the course of the nineteenth century policing became increasingly professionalized.
When Do We Grow Up? After Graduation?
The age when we grow up and begin our adult lives has changed over the years.
The Politics of the Louisiana Purchase
In a treaty signed in Paris on April 30, France swapped 828,000 square miles of North America to the U.S. for $15 million.