Photograph of a desk constructed in Poland in the mid 1920s. The desk is an ornate wooden desk; at left, there are three photographs, at right, a lamp and some miscellaneous items.

An Ornate Desk, Family History and the Jewish Past

My mother’s desk connected me with our shared heritage.
Viking statues with a map background

Viking Map of North America Identified as 20th-Century Forgery

New technical analysis dates Yale's Vinland Map to the 1920s or later, not the 1440s as previously suggested.

How to Fight 8chan Medievalism—and Why We Must

White supremacists are co-opting the Middle Ages. Fighting back requires us to tell better, fuller stories about the period.

Want to Save the Humanities? Make College Free

It's time to shift the social contract of education away from short-term job training toward long-term development.

How 'Deaf President Now' Changed America

A brief history of the movement that transformed a university and helped catalyze the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Statue memorializing Irish immigrants.

No, the Irish Were Not Slaves Too

The myth of Irish slavery has found fertile ground in Internet memes as a way to derail conversation about the need for affirmative action today.

Our Long, Troubling History of Sterilizing the Incarcerated

State-sanctioned efforts to keep the incarcerated from reproducing began in the early 20th century and continue today.