Eileen Southern

The Work of Pioneering Musicologist Eileen Southern

The scholarship of Black music was transformed by Southern's work, and is now being honored by a new initiative.
Illustration of a Pawpaw

Plant of the Month: The Pawpaw

The pawpaw is finding champions again after colonizers' dismissal, increasing globalization and economic needs.
Photograph: Charli D'Amelio attends the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, which was broadcast live on FOX on May 27, 2021. 

Source: Getty

The Real Appeal of Reality Stars

Reality shows bring "ordinary people" into our homes as entertainment, presenting celebrity to us "cafeteria-style."
Whole Foods organic products

How the “Organic” Label Leaves Small Farmers Out

The USDA's requirements for organic labeling make it easier for large agri-business than the smaller farmers you'd think of as "organic."
A Destroy Rape Culture sticker by Starchild Stela

Little Red Riding Hood On Campus: Women & Public Space

According to one criminologist, “constructing public space as dangerous to women ... reinforces traditional gender norms which emphasize women as vulnerable."
William Dampier

William Dampier, Pirate Scientist

An oft-overlooked explorer who traversed the globe, driven by his thirst for scientific discovery—and a love of piracy.
From Home Suggestions, 1921

How American Consumers Embraced Color

Vivid hues in everyday products became eye-popping reality in the early twentieth century.
Ground mustard

The Mystery of the Mustard Family

An archaeological dig turned up eight bottles of mustard powder in one eighteenth-century homestead. Why the condiment love?
Governor William Burnet of New York meets with the Iroquois in 1721

The Native American Roots of the US Constitution

The Iroquois, Shawnee, Cherokee, and other political formations generally separated military and civil leadership and guarded certain personal freedoms.
A campaigner gives a leaflet to a woman at the Abortion Travel agency store on April 10, 2014 in Madrid, Spain.

Evading Abortion Bans with Mutual Aid

One scholar chronicles how communities have banded together to help each other with abortion care even when it’s against the law.