William Ferris: The Man Who Shared Our Voices

An interview with the legendary folklorist, who fundamentally changed America’s understanding of the South.

How Mini-Golf Played a Big Role in Desegregating Public Rec Spaces

In the summer of 1941, a group of black men came to play golf at the whites-only East Potomac Park.

The Disputed Second Life of an American Internment Camp

A debate over a planned fence around the site where people of Japanese ancestry, mostly American citizens, were forcibly interned.
Protesters holding an Occupy Wall St banner.

How Centuries of Protest Shaped New York City

A new book traces the “citymaking process” of riots and rebellions since the era of Dutch colonization to the present.
illustration of orange groves with snow-capped mountains in the distance

The Dreams and Myths That Sold LA

How city leaders and real estate barons used sunshine and oranges to market Los Angeles.

Before Parkland, Santa Fe and Columbine…There Was Concord High

In 1985, a 16-year-old dropout showed up to school with a shotgun. Everyone said it was just a fluke.

Inked Irishmen

Irish tattoos in 1860s New York.

The Factory That Oreos Built

A new owner for the New York City landmark offers a tasty opportunity to recap a crème-filled history.

The School Massacre that Shocked Bath, Michigan

The chilling tale of a tragedy that was seemingly erased from the American consciousness.
Railworkers watch dignitaries on an approaching train.
partner

How Slave Labor Built the State of Florida—Decades After the Civil War

Behind the whitewashed history of the Sunshine State.

The Water War That Polarized 1920s California

When a "scofflaw carnival" occupied the L.A. aqueduct.
Vegetable stand at the Mulberry St. bend, photograph by Jacob Riis.

Policing Unpolicable Space: The Mulberry Bend

Sanitation reformers confront a neighborhood seemingly immune to state intervention.

Historical Mining and Contemporary Conflict: Lessons from the Klondike

The local indigenous population was most affected by environmental change resulting from mining in the Klondike.

Willful Waters

Los Angeles and its river have long been enmeshed in an epic struggle for control.

Montgomery's Shame and Sins of the Past

The Montgomery Advertiser recognizes its own place in the history of racial violence in its own community.

Redlining and Gentrification

Exploring the deep connections between redlining, gentrification, and exclusion in San Francisco.

A New Kind Of City Tour Shows The History Of Racist Housing Policy

Redlining tours explain how policies designed to keep minorities out of certain areas shaped the urban landscapes we see today.

Photographer George Rodriguez Has Chronicled L.A. in All of Its Glamour and Grit

Rodriguez has captured celebrities in repose and farmworkers on strike.

Immaculately Restored Film Lets You Revisit Life in New York City in 1911

Other than one or two of the world's supercentenarians, nobody remembers New York in 1911.

The Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862

While a far cry from full emancipation, it was an important step towards the abolition of slavery.

Why New York City Stopped Building Subways

Nearly 80 years ago, a construction standstill derailed the subway into its present crisis.

Real Museums of Memphis

How the National Civil Rights Museum has obscured the ongoing dispossession of African-Americans taking place in its shadow.
Puerto Rican flag in tatters near smoking buildings.

Top Ten Origins: Puerto Rico and the United States

Outlining America's complex relationship and shared history with Puerto Rico and questions about sovereignty.
A Black man speaks as other protesters stand around him.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Milwaukee: 200 Nights and a Tragedy

King's visits to Milwaukee highlighted the extent to which the civil rights struggle was a national one.

Statues Offensive To Native Americans Are Poised To Topple Across The U.S.

No other city has taken down a monument to a president for his misdeeds, but Arcata is poised to do just that with a statue of William McKinley.

Russians Were Once Banned From a Third of the U.S.

Soviet ban? What Soviet ban?

These Photos Will Change the Way You Think About Race in Coal Country

The myth that Appalachia is uniformly White lingers, but communities of “Affrilachians” were documented in the 1930s.

A Cursed Appalachian Mining Town

An intimate portrait of a once-prosperous town in a forgotten corner of America.

Paddling Down 'Disappointment River'

Revisiting the arduous path of 18th-century fur trader Alexander Mackenzie.
Book cover of "What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia."

Appalachia Isn’t Trump Country

A region that outsiders love to imagine but can’t seem to understand.