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President’s Day Is a Weird Holiday. It Has Been Since the Beginning.
How should a republic honor its leaders?
by
Lindsay M. Chervinsky
via
The Bulwark
on
February 19, 2023
Do Americans Sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ Because of a Frat Party?
Or maybe it was the cigars that gave us this New Year's Eve staple.
by
April White
via
Atlas Obscura
on
December 29, 2022
'The Slaves Dread New Year's Day the Worst': The Grim History of January 1
New Year's Day used to be widely known as "Hiring Day" or "Heartbreak Day"
by
Olivia B. Waxman
via
TIME
on
December 27, 2019
partner
It’s Time to Make Election Day a Holiday in Law and Spirit
We need to bring back the celebratory atmosphere that animated Election Day in the 19th century.
by
Holly Jackson
via
Made By History
on
October 22, 2019
partner
What Is Presidents’ Day Actually About?
For most of American history, Washington's Birthday was a really big deal, but that’s changed a lot since the middle of the twentieth century.
by
Livia Gershon
,
Barry Schwartz
via
JSTOR Daily
on
February 3, 2018
Buying Your Dad a Gift Is Why Father's Day Exists
Buying a necktie for your dad is a stereotypical way to celebrate Father's Day, but it's in keeping with the holiday's history.
by
Erin Blakemore
via
TIME
on
June 15, 2017
Christmas in the Space Age: Looking Back at the Wild Designs of Mid-20th-Century Holidays
There are two critical periods for Christmas. One is the Victorian era. The other is the 1960s.
by
Sarah Archer
,
Todd Vanderwerff
via
Vox
on
November 25, 2016
On the Mysteries, Real and Imagined, Surrounding Christopher Columbus
Columbus lives on as a political and cultural symbol—hero, villain, myth—revealing how belief, not fact, shapes history.
by
Matthew Restall
via
Literary Hub
on
October 13, 2025
The Jim Crow Origins of National Police Week
Police brutality and corruption are painful realities. So are officers who die performing their duty. But the memorial in Washington fails to distinguish them.
by
Elizabeth Robeson
via
The Nation
on
May 9, 2025
How Christmas Became an All-American Holiday
What kind of Christmas did we used to know? To hear some critics and historians tell it, the holiday used to be a lot more religious than it is now.
by
Samuel Goldman
via
Compact
on
December 24, 2024
American Food Traditions That Started as Marketing Ploys
Your grandma didn't invent that recipe.
by
Diana Hubbell
via
Atlas Obscura
on
September 30, 2024
Before Juneteenth
A firsthand account of freedom’s earliest celebrations.
by
Susannah J. Ural
,
Ann Marsh Daly
via
The Atlantic
on
June 17, 2024
Fighting to Desegregate the American Calendar
As a versatile but complex hero, King led a life open to interpretation by politicians and activists of all types who fiercely debated his legacy.
by
Daniel T. Fleming
,
Brock Schnoke
via
UNC Press Blog
on
January 15, 2024
Poinsettia Day, the Monroe Doctrine, and U.S.-Mexican Relations
The troubled history of the famous poinsettia plant.
by
Lindsay Schakenbach Regele
via
Origins
on
December 9, 2023
The Story We’ve Been Told About Juneteenth Is Wrong
The real history of Juneteenth is much messier—and more inspiring.
by
Peniel E. Joseph
via
Texas Monthly
on
May 18, 2023
When Christmas Started Creeping
Christmas starts earlier every year — or does it?
by
Bill Black
via
Contingent
on
November 8, 2022
The Secret History of Pumpkin Pie Spice
Why do we eat pumpkin pie spice in the fall?
by
Sarah Wassberg Johnson
via
The Food Historian
on
October 2, 2022
A Case of the Mondays
The beginning of the fight for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
by
Daniel T. Fleming
via
Lapham’s Quarterly
on
June 29, 2022
At the Lower East Side Passover Parade, Immigrants Created New American Identities
Some accounts suggest that the Passover Parade was even more glamorous than its famous counterpart, the Easter Parade.
by
Yael Buechler
via
Forward
on
April 10, 2022
The Uses and Abuses of the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Politics have diluted King's dream.
by
Andre E. Key
via
Religion Dispatches
on
January 13, 2022
How to Tell the Thanksgiving Story on Its 400th Anniversary
Scholars are unraveling the myths surrounding the 1621 feast, which found the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag cementing a newly established alliance.
by
David Kindy
via
Smithsonian
on
November 23, 2021
Why Aren’t Conservative Women Recognized During Women’s History Month?
The left regularly dismisses such women as less worthy of recognition.
by
Kay C. James
via
The Washington Times
on
March 1, 2021
How New York's 19th-Century Jews Turned Purim Into an American Party
In the 19th century, Purim became an occasion to hold parties to raise money for charities. These parties helped American Jews gain a standing among the elite.
by
Zev Eleff
via
The Conversation
on
February 23, 2021
The War on Christmas
A brief history of the Yuletide in America.
by
Charles Ludington
via
The American Scholar
on
December 28, 2020
partner
A Long-Forgotten Holiday Animates Black Lives Matter
The movement for racial equality echoes the vision of the “August First Day” holiday.
by
Tom Zoellner
via
Made By History
on
July 31, 2020
The Living History of Juneteenth, Our Next National Holiday
A celebration of emancipation in Texas is taking hold in the minds of Americans everywhere.
by
Brandon R. Byrd
via
GQ
on
June 19, 2020
Early Photographs of Juneteenth Celebrations
Historical photographs of early Juneteenth celebrations throughout its home state of Texas and across the country.
via
The Public Domain Review
on
June 19, 2020
Juneteenth And National New Beginnings
The holiday is a reminder of the Civil War's larger meaning, the unfulfilled promise of Reconstruction, and the reinforcement of democratic values.
by
Tera W. Hunter
via
Essence
on
June 19, 2020
partner
Thanksgiving Has Been Reinvented Many Times
From colonial times to the nineteenth century, Thanksgiving was very different from the holiday we know now.
by
Elizabeth Pleck
,
Matthew Wills
via
JSTOR Daily
on
November 1, 2019
The Fourth of July Has Always Been Political
The question is which vision of America it’s being used to advance.
by
David Waldstreicher
via
The Atlantic
on
July 4, 2019
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