John B. Cade’s Project to Document the Stories of the Formerly Enslaved
A recently digitized slave narrative collection consists of original manuscripts compiled by John Brother Cade and his students at Southern University.
How Crime Stories Foiled Reform in Victorian Britain
Harsh punishments were declining in the nineteenth century. Then came sensationalist news coverage of a reputed crime wave.
Abortion Remedies from a Medieval Catholic Nun(!)
Hildegard von Bingen wrote medical texts describing how to prepare abortifacients.
A History of Human Waste as Fertilizer
In eighteenth century Japan, human excrement played a vital role in agriculture. Can similar solutions help manage waste today?
A History of Police Violence in Chicago
At the turn of the century, Chicago police killed 307 people, one in eighteen homicides in the city—three times the body count of local gangsters.
When Societies Put Animals on Trial
Animal trials were of two kinds: (1) secular suits against individual creatures; and (2) ecclesiastic cases against groups of vermin.
How Baseball Became a Profession
Sports historian Steven A. Riess writes that the process that transformed baseball into a high-paid profession began in the 1860s.
When Did Colonial America Gain Linguistic Independence?
By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, did colonial Americans still sound like their British counterparts?
Immigration and National Security on George Washington’s Day
Presuming that immigration was a boon to national security, U.S. borders remained mostly open for the first century of the nation’s existence.
Paper Money Rebellion
The Currency Act of 1764 returned the restrictions of 1751: banning colonists from printing their own legal tender bills.