Reviving Chinese Festivals
The government of China has been working to revitalize traditional celebrations that were suppressed after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.
Mark Twain’s Obsession with Joan of Arc
Despite being famous for his witty analyses of the American South, Twain was proudest of the historical fiction he wrote about France’s legendary martyr.
Suppressing the Black Vote in 1811
As more Black men gained the right to vote in New York, the state began to change its laws to reduce their power or disenfranchise them completely.
From Jamaica to the World: Contextualizing Bob Marley
Bob Marley’s life and music intersected with Pan-Africanism, the Rastafari movement, and post-colonial politics around the globe.
100 Years after the “Great Debate”: How Edwin Hubble Expanded the Cosmos
In 1924, Edwin Hubble found proof that the Milky Way isn't the only galaxy in the Universe.
“Heed Their Rising Voices”: Annotated
In 1960, an ad placed in the New York Times to defend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists touched off a landmark libel suit.
The Sweet Story of Condensed Milk
This nineteenth-century industrial product became a military staple and a critical part of local food culture around the world.
Black Women Were Also Lynched
A case study of the 1912 lynching of Mary Jackson in Harrison County, Texas, provides insight into the contradictory culture of racial violence.
The Haitian Revolution and American Slavery
For both US politicians and enslaved Black Americans, the Haitian Revolution represented the possibility of a successful violent rebellion by the oppressed.
Do You Own Your Body?
The idea that our bodies are our own may be intuitive, but when it comes to market transactions like surrogacy, our beliefs and feelings get more complicated.