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“This is Not Who We Are,” Critics Say About the Refugee Ban. But What if it is?

Fighting over immigration is central to the American story.
George Washington with numbers pointing to proportions of his head for measurement.

George Washington: A Descendant of Odin?

Yvonne Seale on a bizarre and fanciful piece of genealogical scholarship and what it tells us about identity in late 19th-century America.
A still from a film western depicting a fictionalized version of volunteers at the Alamo.

What a 1950s Texas Textbook Can Teach Us About Today's Textbook Fight

Texas education officials have preliminarily voted to reject a Mexican-American history textbook that scholars have said was riddled with inaccuracies.
Godey's Lady's book cover, 1867.
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All Hale Thanksgiving

In the 1820s, Sarah Hale, a New England widow and the editor of Godey’s Ladies Book made it her mission to get Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday.
Picture of a suburban neighborhood.

The Suburban Horror of the Indian Burial Ground

In the 1970s and 1980s, homeowners were terrified by the idea that they didn't own the land they'd just bought.
A reporter interviewing another man near the wreckage from the Watts Rebellion.
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Did The 1965 Watts Riots Change Anything?

Sociological data from immediately after the riots in Watts, Los Angeles, in 1965 show major disparities in attitude by race.

Not Our Independence Day

The Founding Fathers were more interested in limiting democracy than securing and expanding it.

The Myth of the 'Reagan Democrat'

The notion that Donald Trump can convert a large swath of white, blue-collar Democrats is a fantasy. They don’t exist.
An illustration of Weyer’s Cave from 1858.

The 19th Century ‘Show Caves’ That Became America’s First Tourist Traps

Novelists concocted elaborate fake histories for mysterious caves in Virginia.
John Winthrop
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Invisible Cities

On John Winthrop’s oft-misunderstood use of the phrase “a city upon a hill” to describe the New World.
A painting of Boston harbor, where women in dresses stand on a hill, watching ships
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Invisible Cities, Continued

The 19th century recovery of John Winthrop's sermon, "A City on a Hill."
Lewis and Clark expedition, with Sacagawea whitened out in the center.

How The West Was Wrong: The Mystery Of Sacagawea

Sacagawea is a symbol for everything from Manifest Destiny to women’s rights to American diversity. Except we don't know much about her.

Slavery Myths Debunked

The Irish were slaves too; slaves had it better than factory workvers; black people fought for the Confederacy; and so on.

The Hidden History Of Juneteenth

The internecine conflict and the institution of slavery could not and did not end neatly at Appomattox or on Galveston Island.
The ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869.

The Birth of Breaking News

On May 10th, 1869, the entire nation was waiting for the moment a silver hammer struck a golden spike, creating the first massive breaking news story.

Our Commemoration of the Civil War’s End Celebrates a Myth

The emancipation of black Americans has been written out of our celebration of the Civil War's end.
Black-and-white illustration of conquistadores with a Native American kneeling before them.
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Making a Myth

A time before “everyone” knew the story of Christopher Columbus, and the role of Washington Irving’s massive biography in creating the heroic Columbus myth.
Columbus and crew landing boat at San Salvador
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1492: Columbus in American Memory

Columbus Day is here again -- along with the controversy over its namesake. How have earlier generations understood him?

The Self-Made Man

The story of America’s most pliable, pernicious, irrepressible myth.

In Living Color: The Forgotten 19th-Century Photo Technology That Romanticized America

People without the means to visit America's wonders could finally picture it for themselves.

The True Story of Phineas Gage Is Much More Fascinating Than the Mythical Textbook Accounts

Each generation revises his myth. Here’s the true story.
The house of Alfred Iverson Jr. behind a white curtain.

My Civil War

A southerner discovers the inaccuracy of the the myths he grew up with, and slowly comes to terms with his connection to the Civil War.

The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic

Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio program did not touch off nationwide hysteria. Why does the legend persist?
Black family sitting around log cabin, possibly in Florida, 1892.

Plantations Practiced Modern Management

Slaveholding plantations of the 19th century used scientific management techniques—and some applied them more extensively than factories.
Poster for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
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Where the Buffalo Roam

How Buffalo Bill’s Wild West brought scenes from the American West to audiences around the globe.
A photograph of a Pony Express employee riding a horse.
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Cowboys and Mailmen

Debunking myths about the Pony Express.
An illustration depicting the size of the Titanic in comparison to world wonders.

The Unsinkable Myth

Reflections on the various legends surrounding the world's most famous ship.

Thanks a Lot, Ken Burns

Because of you, my Civil War lecture is always packed with students raised on your romantic, deeply misleading portrait of the conflict.
Police car.

The Orchestra

What are the origins of the mechanical siren?
Illustration depicting Betsy Ross presenting the flag to George Washington.

How Betsy Ross Became Famous

Oral tradition, nationalism, and the invention of history.

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