How Racist Cartoons Helped Ignite a Massacre
In 1898, a North Carolina newspaper cartoonist weaponized white fears and tropes of Black predation to stoke a coup d'etat.
How Black-Owned Record Stores Helped Create Community
What was it like for Black American music lovers during the age of segregation to find a place they could call their own?
The Complications of “Outlaw Country”
Johnny Cash grappled with the many facets of the outlaw archetype in his feature acting debut, Five Minutes to Live.
The First Black Woman to Perform at the Grand Ole Opry
Linda Martell made the switch from R&B to country music in the late 1960s. Her star then shined on country's biggest stage.
Julie Enszer: “We Couldn’t Get Them Printed,” So We Learned to Print Them Ourselves
The editor of the lesbian feminist magazine Sinister Wisdom talked to us about lesbian print culture, feminist collectives, and revolution.
The Nostalgic Pleasure of Preserves
Home canning was once a necessity, but even then the process was often defined by sensory pleasures and a deep sense of satisfaction.
The Legendary Language of the Appalachian “Holler”
Is the unique Appalachian dialect the preserved language of Elizabethan England? Left over from Scots-Irish immigrants? Or something else altogether?
The Crucial Southern Blackberry
In the 19th century, blackberry picking was both hobby and money-making endeavor for many Americans. Increased regulation of land use changed all that.
Summer Reading in JSTOR
Stories by Meg Wolitzer, David Sedaris, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, E. Annie Proulx, Amy Tan, Donna Tartt, Lydia Millet, Lauren Groff, and more.