Stonewall Inn

Why Stonewall?

The Stonewall riot in June, 1969 is generally remembered as be the beginning of the gay liberation movement. But there was precedent for the event.
Barbed wire

How Barbed Wire Changed Farming Forever

On June 25, 1867, Lucien B. Smith of Ohio received the first patent for barbed wire. Within a few decades, barbed wire transformed the American West.
Mae West

How The “Fag Hag” Went From Hated to Celebrated

At its core, the relationship between single women and gay men has longstanding historical roots.
Chelsea Manning

How The Espionage Act Became a Tool of Repression

The Espionage Act of 1917 marked the beginning of the one of the most repressive periods in American history, with 2000 dissenters prosecuted.
Businesswoman interview

The Gender Gap Is Even More Insidious Than You Thought

Women are more likely to be excluded from key networks, less likely to have had managerial experience, and have fewer mentors to signpost the way forward.
Birmingham trainyard

A Precedent for Today’s Political Violence

Illegal violence has always been a political tool, often serving the interests of the powerful. A historian looks at the case of 1930s Birmingham, Alabama.
Barracuda school

How Do Fish Schools Work?

Fish schools turn, contract, expand, even part and come back together all without missing a beat. Yet fish are individuals, not a hive mind.
Businessmen

The Secret Gay Business Network of Midcentury America

In the 1940s and 50s, a life of business travel represented a sense of freedom for gay men that would have been impossible in earlier decades.
DC African-American classroom, 1942

One Weird Trick for Raising Teachers’ Credentials

What's behind a drop in secondary school teachers' credentials? The profession has widened, but neither the its prestige, nor its pay has kept up.
Death Cap Mushroom

California’s Plague of Poisonous Mushrooms

In the last couple of months, fourteen Californians have learned the hard way when they accidentally ate highly poisonous “Death Cap” mushrooms.