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FBI agents and local police examine a bombed out pickup truck in Natchez, Mississippi.

The History of Violent Opposition to Black Political Participation

Leaders in the 20th-century South faced violence and death for promoting voting rights; systemic failure enabled their killers to go unpunished.
by Dan Biddle, Sara Rimer via Equal Justice Initiative on August 13, 2024
President Ronald Reagan, pictured waving to a crowd shortly before John Hinckley Jr. tried to assassinate him on March 30, 1981.

The History of Presidential Assassination Attempts, From Andrew Jackson to Teddy Roosevelt

Before last weekend’s attack on Donald Trump, would-be assassins targeted Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and seven other presidents or candidates.
by Meilan Solly via Smithsonian on July 17, 2024
Aftermath of Oklahoma City bombing.

American Carnage

A new book about Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing traces the path from Ronald Reagan’s antigovernment ideology to today’s radicalized right.
by Sean Wilentz via New York Review of Books on July 25, 2023
Print shows Rebel troops killing the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, and setting fire to the buildings.

Where Will This Political Violence Lead? Look to the 1850s.

In the mid-19th century, a pro-slavery minority used violence to stifle a growing anti-slavery majority, spurring their opposition to respond in kind.
by Joshua Zeitz via Politico Magazine on October 29, 2022
Photo from the January 6th Capitol Attack, with rioters raising a flag in front of a cloud of smoke by the capitol.

How the Republican Party Embraced Political Violence Before January 6th

On the alarming origins of the current political moment.
by Dana Milbank via Literary Hub on August 15, 2022
A man carries a Confederate battle flag through the halls of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.

A Brief History of Violence in the Capitol: The Foreshadowing of Disunion

The radicalization of a congressional clerk in the 1800s and the introduction of the telegraph set a young country on a new trajectory.
by Joanne B. Freeman, Clay S. Jenkinson via Governing on March 13, 2022
Political cartoon calling the caning of Sumner "Southern chivalry."
partner

History’s Lessons for the Jan. 6 Committee

This isn’t the first time a House committee has investigated political violence in the Capitol.
by Paul Quigley via Made By History on November 30, 2021
Muhammad A. Aziz leaving a courtroom after being officially exonerated
partner

Exonerating Two Men Convicted of Malcolm X’s Killing Doesn’t Vindicate the System

Can a system built on racial violence actually deliver justice?
by Garrett Felber via Made By History on November 20, 2021

How ‘Jakarta’ Became the Codeword for US-Backed Mass Killing

The systematic mass murder and assault of accused communists in Indonesia by US-backed military forces has left a mark on the country and the world.
by Vincent Bevins via New York Review of Books on May 18, 2020

It's Time to Stop Talking About a 'National Divorce'

The right's eagerness for a "peaceful separation" of the nation echoes pieces of race war fiction.
by Christian Vanderbrouk via The Bulwark on March 21, 2019

Raising Cane

The violence on Capitol Hill that foreshadowed a bloody war.
by Joanne B. Freeman via Lapham’s Quarterly on September 15, 2018

Terrorized African-Americans Found Their Champion in Civil War Hero Robert Smalls

The congressman and former slave claimed whites had killed 53,000 African-Americans. Few took him seriously—until now.
by Lisa Elmaleh Douglas via Smithsonian on August 22, 2018

Violence Against Members of Congress Has a Long, and Ominous, History

In the 1840s and 1850s, it was all too common.
by Joanne B. Freeman via Washington Post on June 15, 2017

The Lesser Part of Valor

Preston Brooks, Greg Gianforte, and the American tradition of disguising cowardice as bravery.
by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on May 26, 2017
Haitian gang members carrying assault rifles, standing in the center of a stylized rifle sight.

Haiti’s Agents Of Fear

Haitians are caught between the grip of violent gangs and the messy legacies of foreign intervention.
by Matthew J. Smith via Noema on October 29, 2024
Black Legion members in wearing capes and hoods.

You Know About the KKK, but What About the Black Legion?

The Black Legion was a white supremacist fascist group headquartered in Lima, Ohio. Its worst deeds are lost to memory, but they shouldn’t be.
by Dana Frank via Jacobin on October 18, 2024
George Floyd protest

Reflections of the 60th Anniversary of Urban Uprisings in America

The media narrative used to discredit urban rebellions as violent betrayals of the civil rights movement has been attached to protests ever since.
by Heather Ann Thompson via Black Perspectives on October 17, 2024
Man burning a picture of Abraham Lincoln.

City on Fire

The night violent anti-government conspirators sowed chaos in the heart of Manhattan.
by Betsy Golden Kellem via The Atavist on September 24, 2024
Still from the film Medium Cool, 1969.

That Ain't Cool

Capturing the 1968 DNC.
by Sammy Feldblum via The Baffler on August 20, 2024
A political cartoon of Charles Guiteau holding a pistol and a sign that reads "An Office or Your Life."

Why Are Presidential Assassins Such Sad Sacks?

What would-be killers of the US commander in chief have in common is that they aren’t fervent ideologues; they’re outcasts.
by Zack Budryk via The Nation on July 22, 2024
The side of Donald Trump's face, focused on his bandaged ear from his attempted assassination.

Historians See Echoes of 1968 in Trump Assassination Attempt

But they also find key differences.
by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on July 17, 2024
Barry Goldwater giving a speech at the Republican National Convention.
partner

The Republican National Convention That Shocked the Country

The pulsating anger in San Francisco 60 years ago became the party's animating spirit.
by Charles J. Holden via Made By History on July 17, 2024
Photos of assassination attempts on Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and Gerald Ford.

Stop Pretending You Know How This Will End

The failed assassination of Donald Trump might not have any lasting effect on the election or politics in general.
by Derek Thompson via The Atlantic on July 16, 2024
Banner showing the logo of Chiquita.

Chiquita Must Pay for Its Crimes in Latin America

70 years since President Árbenz was ousted for standing up to Chiquita, the firm might finally be held to account for its ties to a far-right paramilitary group in Colombia.
by Klas Lundström via Jacobin on July 10, 2024
Exterior of Attica Correctional Facility.

The “Long Attica Revolt”

The resistance inside prisons is an integral part of the struggle against white supremacy and for Black liberation beyond the walls.
by Robert J. Boyle via Against the Current on June 30, 2024
Baseball players for the Texas Rangers restraining fan from running onto field.

The Beer Night Riot, 50 Years Ago: What Was That America Like?

The melee, the mayhem, the metal chairs.
by Daniel McGraw via The Bulwark on June 4, 2024
A JDL ad from the New York Times.

False Prophet

Meir Kahane's legacy in Israel and America.
by John Ganz via Unpopular Front on May 10, 2024
Students in a Kent State University classroom.

Decades After Kent State Shooting, the Tragic Legacy Shapes its Activism

The university where 13 student protesters were killed or injured during the Vietnam War era worries that other schools have learned nothing from its history.
by Jonathan Edwards via Washington Post on May 4, 2024
Image of Preston Brooks pummeling Charles Sumner with a cane in 1856 and a Trump supporter on January 6th, 2021.

The Illiberalism at America’s Core

A new history argues that illiberalism is not a backlash but a central feature from the founding to today.
by Julian E. Zelizer via The New Republic on May 2, 2024
Abraham Lincoln campaigning with the Wide Awakes.

The Club of Cape-Wearing Activists Who Helped Elect Lincoln—and Spark the Civil War

The untold story of the Wide Awakes, the young Americans who took up the torch for their antislavery cause and stirred the nation.
by Jon Grinspan via Smithsonian on April 1, 2024
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