Girls in a swimming class entertain an audience of neighborhood residents at Mullanphy Pool in St. Louis, MO

When Cities Closed Pools to Avoid Integration

Many Americans lack nearby municipal pools, the lasting result of extralegal Jim Crow-era efforts to keep races segregated at all costs.
A rig in the ocean with smoke and fire protruding from top

How Natural Gas Helped Make our Industrial World

Gas was in fact one of the first readily available fuels, and shaped spaces and politics in Regency-era London.
Eastern phoebe nest with one brown-headed cowbird egg

The Sky’s Creepiest Parasites

Are you a bird? Is your chick acting weird? You might be victim of a brood parasite.
Scottish Highlanders

What Does It Mean To Be Celtic?

How various nationalist groups have come to use "Celtic" as a coded way of saying "white."
The cover of Jessica Hagedorn’s 1990 "Dogeaters"

The Filipino Novel That Reimagined Neocolonial Gender

Revisiting an essential Asian American work, beloved for its synthesis of neocolonialism, postmodernism, and central queer and female characters.
Presidents Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Ford

The Accidental Presidents of the United States

How "accidental" world leaders have faced the challenges of leading major democracies without being voted in.
A classroom in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1944

Teaching Race at School

Shaken by Nazi propaganda, educators tried to teach anti-racist lessons in the 30s-40s. Their methods, however, would be considered very problematic today.
Two men and a baby

How Families with Two Dads Raise Their Kids

Research reveals few differences between the parenting of gay men and their straight peers.
Illustration of a man lying on a couch

Workplace Burnout is Nothing New

Doctors were talking about the dangers of chronic stress, exhaustion, and anxiety back in 1909, predicting dire consequences if the symptoms were ignored.
A tornado in a field

Why Tornadoes Are So Difficult to Predict

Scientists and weather forecasters have been trying to understand tornadoes for over 100 years, but the average advanced warning is still only 14 minutes.