The League of Women Voters Takes On the Environment
Having won the right to vote, some suffragists moved on to fight water pollution and protect the environment.
“What to the Slave is The Fourth of July?”: Annotated
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a Fourth of July speech that became his most famous public oration.
Should We Just Listen to the Scientists?
Looking beyond the science of climate change may allow for a more nuanced approach to the growing global crisis.
De-Bunking the Barbarians
The idea of barbarian invasions comes from the nineteenth century, when they were constructed as the decisive event that wrenched the West into modernity.
“It’s Tight Like That”
A "dirty" song recorded by Georgia Tom and Tampa Red in 1928 launched the "hokum" blues.
Traditional Dance in the Limelight at Pilipino Culture Night
Traditional dance offers Filipino Americans a sense of pride and legitimacy while allowing them to cherish different aspects of this heritage practice.
Gay Mass Consumption Before Stonewall
In the 1960s, the Mattachine Society had only a few thousand members. But tens of thousands of men subscribed to physique magazines published by gay entrepreneurs.
The Mystery of Crime-Scene Dust
In the late nineteenth century, forensic investigators began using new technologies to study minute details—such as the arrangement and makeup of dust.
Parthenogenesis, Medieval Whales, and Debating Science
Well-researched stories from Slate, Knowable Magazine, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Kwame Brathwaite Showed the World that Black is Beautiful
Photographing everyone from musicians to athletes to the person on the street, Brathwaite found the beauty in Blackness and shared it with the world.