Jane Addams’s Crusade Against Victorian “Dancing Girls”
Jane Addams, a leading Victorian-era reformer, believed dance halls were “one of the great pitfalls of the city.”
How 19th Century Women Were Taught to Think About Native Americans
In nineteenth-century American women's magazines, Native American women were depicted as attractive, desirable, and pious.
Glenn Ligon’s “Blue Black” Exhibits the History of Race in America
Artist Glenn Ligon grounds his work in American history, addressing the inextricable link between history of slavery and the black experience in the U.S.
The Uneasy History of Integrated Sports in America
The integration of collegiate and professional sports parallels the civil rights movement, but in important ways it was a whole different track.
The Racialized History of “Hysteria”
Even three decades after “hysteria” was deleted from the DSM-III, some of the word’s diagnostic power obviously still remains.
The Inequality Hidden Within the Race-Neutral G.I. Bill
While the G.I. Bill itself was progressive, much of the country still functioned under both covert and blatant segregation.
How African Americans Supported Evolution in the 1925 Scopes Trial
Dayton, Tennessee has a new statue of Clarence Darrow, the evolutionist and criminal defense attorney of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial.
The Devastation of Black Wall Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 1921. A wave of racial violence destroys an affluent African-American community, seen as a threat to white-dominated American capitalism.
How Basquiat Went From Underrated to Record-Breaking
A 1982 Untitled work of Jean-Michel Basquiat broke records as the highest selling US-produced artwork. Learn how Basquiat and his work gained its fame.
The Making of Rita Hayworth
To become a Hollywood star and icon, Rita Hayworth had to transcend not just her waistline or her hairline, but her own ethnicity.