Alexander Hamilton: Statesman, Dueler, Birthday Party Theme

Projected to earn $1 billion and earning Tony-Award glory, 'Hamilton' the musical is still going strong in backyards and classrooms across the country.

The 19th-Century African-American Actor Who Conquered Europe

And why you might never have heard of Ira Aldridge.

How Ice Cream Helped America at War

For decades, the military made sure soldiers had access to the treat—including spending $1 million on a floating ice-cream factory.

The Role of HBCUs and the Black Press in the Rise of the American Tennis Association

Historically black colleges and universities hosted all but six ATA tournaments from 1927 to 1968.
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The Vietnam War That Never Goes Away

Popular theater productions and Hollywood movies about the Vietnam War have a continued place in popular culture and memory.

The NFL’s Pending Hall of Fame Problem

If everyone is breaking records, then who goes to Canton?

We Need to Talk About Digital Blackface in GIFs

Are you part of the problem?

The TV That Created Donald Trump

Rewatching “The Apprentice,” the show that made his Presidency possible.

The Umpire Strikes Out: Baseball Music and Labor

The classic baseball hit "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" has a lot more to do with U.S. history than one might think.
Charlie Chaplin and other actors in a silent film.

Curing (Silent) Movies of Deafness?

In many ways, silent film was an art form entirely different from the "talkies" we enjoy today.

The Rise and Fall of the “Sellout”

The history of the epithet, from its rise among leftists and jazz critics and folkies to its recent fall from favor.

A New View of Grenada’s Revolution

The documentary, "The House on Coco Road" tells the little-known story of Grenada's revolution and subsequent U.S. invasion.

Asking the Tough Questions With an 18th-Century Debate Society

Is polygamy justifiable? Is it lawful to eat swine's flesh?

The Georgia Peach May Be Vanishing, but Its Mythology Is Alive and Well

It's been a tough year for the Georgia peach.

Trump Hasn’t Killed Comedy. He’s Killed Our Stupid Idea of Comedy.

You and I have grown up during a period in which comedy became strangely bound up with truth and virtue. Trump has cut the knot.
Two Papasan chairs

Tracing the Elusive History of Pier 1's Ubiquitous 'Papasan' Chair

The bowl-shaped seat's conflicted heritage incorporates the Vietnam War.

Wild Thing: A New Biography of Thoreau

Freeing Thoreau from layers of caricature that have long distorted his legacy.

What the "Crack Baby" Panic Reveals About The Opioid Epidemic

Journalism in two different eras of drug waves illustrates how strongly race factors into empathy and policy.

Combatting Stereotypes About Appalachian Dialects

Language variation is just as diverse within Appalachia as it is outside of the region.
Edythe Eyde

She Risked Jail to Create A Magazine for Lesbians

Decades before "The L Word," Edythe Eyde knew her magazine for lesbians — Vice Versa — was illegal.
A broken pencil lays on top of a standardized testing answer sheet
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What Today’s Education Reformers Can Learn From Henry David Thoreau

Snobbish elitism will hurt their cause.
Robert Frost.

Belief is Better

Robert Frost’s correspondence on teaching, writing and having fun.
Howard Coffin hosts President Calvin Coolidge on Sapelo Island, Georgia.

Black Gullah Culture Fascinated Americans Just As President Coolidge Visited

The culture on Sapelo Island, Georgia was unique.
Amelia Earhart and plane.

Amelia Earhart Taught America to Fly

How Earhart and other women pilots of her day helped overcome Americans’ skepticism about flight.

The Craft Beer Explosion: Why Here? Why Now?

The crucial decade was the 1970s, when the industry’s increased consolidation and ever-blander product collided with key social and economic changes.

The Oral History of Lilith Fair, As Told By the Women Who Lived It

It was a time when promoters were telling women in music: “You can’t put two women on the same bill. People won’t come.”

How Spam Went from Canned Necessity to American Icon

Out-of-the-can branding helped transform World War II’s rations into a beloved household staple.

The Founding Fathers Would Literally Bet on Anything

Our Founding Fathers—particularly those of a Southern persuasion—gambled not only on horses but pretty much everything else.

Closet Archive

A stuffed history of the closet, where the “past becomes space.”

Cinematic Airs

A pair of 1959 films brought "Smell-o-vision" into movies.