Graduates during commencement.

Does More Education Mean Higher Pay?

High school graduation rates sky-rocketed in the 1930s, but as more educated people flooded the job market, pay and opportunities plateaued. 
The cast of Downton Abbey

Understanding the Popularity of “Downton Abbey”

Downton Abbey's popularity in America may be due to the British culture industry's manufacture of the myth of England itself. 
Lincoln Memorial

The Fight to Build the Lincoln Memorial

From location disputes to the type of memorial itself, the fight over how to best respect Lincoln's legacy eventually led to the Lincoln Memorial.  
college admissions

Rethinking College Admissions

It’s news to precisely no one that college admissions still favor the rich. A number of studies in recent years have explored the process.
Leading the Klu Klux Klan parade which was held in Washington, D.C.

The Ku Klux Klan Used to Be Big Business

At the height of its business operations, in 1923, the Klu Klux Klan was worth roughly $12 million dollars. 
The Firebrand and the First Lady Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice By Patricia Bell-Scott

Pauli Murray: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Brilliant (Black, Feminist, Queer, Trailblazing) Friend

Patricia Bell-Scott's new book explores the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray, the poet and civil rights activist. 
Iron Curtain

Revisiting Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech

The famous "Iron Curtain" speech that propelled us into the Cold War highlights Churchill's near roguish fight to challenge the U.S.S.R.
One of the Proximity Cotton Mill sewing classes. Greensboro, N. C.

How 19th-Century Cotton Mills Influenced Workplace Gender Roles

The spinners' union made it nearly impossible for women to secure reliable work in the cotton mills, instituting their proper role in the workplace.
Screenshot of Flower from the trailer for the film Bambi.

The Problematic Influence of Disney’s “Bambi”

Bambi has had a pervasive influence on how Americans view nature, and that might not be such a good thing.
Rushdie at Pen America/Free Expression Literature, May 2014. © Ed Lederman/PEN American Center

Is the Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie Real?

$600,000 dollars have been added to the original fatwa against Salman Rushdie. But Khomeini's declaration may not have been a real fatwa after all.