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Black and white people sitting at a lunch counter.

When Rights Went Right

Is the American conception of constitutional rights too absolute?
by David Cole via New York Review of Books on March 31, 2022
Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass and the Trouble with Critical Race Theory

A favorite icon of critical race theory proponents doesn’t say what they want him to say.
by Robert S. Levine via Los Angeles Review of Books on August 2, 2021
Toussaint Louverture proclaiming the Constitution of the Republic of Haiti

Contagious Constitutions

In her new book, Colley shows how written constitutions developed both as a way to further justify rulers and to turn rebellions into legitimate governments.
by Jenny Uglow via New York Review of Books on June 3, 2021
Co-founder of Moms for Liberty Tina Descovich speaks during the 2024 Joyful Warriors National Summit.

From the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s ‘Body of Liberties’ to today’s ‘Moms for Liberty’

The "parental rights" movement, rooted in colonial theocracy, has evolved into a political force resisting racial, gender, and educational equality.
by Bruce Gourley via Church & State Magazine on October 1, 2024
Run on a bank during the Great Depression.

The Radical Past and Future of Debt Resistance

The deep roots of debt relief activism in the United States.
by Astra Taylor via The Nation on September 25, 2024
U.S. Constitution

This Book Could Change the Way Conservatives Read the Constitution

“Against Constitutional Originalism” by historian Jonathan Gienapp could fundamentally reorient how we understand America’s founding.
by Cass R. Sunstein via Washington Post on September 25, 2024
Donald Trump speaks at a rally in July in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

What’s the Matter With the Democrats?

Two new books reveal the shortcomings at the heart of the liberal critique of Trump voters.
by Sean T. Byrnes via Dissent on September 23, 2024
Kamala Harris stands in front of a crowd of voters holidng "Freedom" signs.

Kamala Harris’s “Freedom” Campaign

Democrats’ years-long efforts to reclaim the word are cresting in this year’s Presidential race.
by Peter Slevin via The New Yorker on August 23, 2024
A homeless man eating a meal in a park.

Good Deeds Unpunished

American law should protect the right of individuals to engage in charitable acts.
by Mark David Hall, Adam J. Macleod via Law & Liberty on July 22, 2024
Lithograph of George Washington on his land with people he enslaved.

What, to the American, Is Revolutionary?

The colonial rebellion we celebrate every July 4th doesn’t fit the definition.
by Kellie Carter Jackson via The Emancipator on July 2, 2024
James Madison by Gilbert Stewart, 1821.

How the Constitution Unifies the Country

Yuval Levin urges us to take America’s greatest constitutional thinker, James Madison, as our lodestar.
by Marc Landy via Law & Liberty on June 11, 2024
Starbucks workers on strike.

The Paradox of the American Labor Movement

It’s a great time to be in a union—but a terrible time to try to start a new one.
by Michael Podhorzer via The Atlantic on April 18, 2024

The Forgotten Lessons of Truly Effective Protest

Organizing is a kind of alchemy: it turns alienation into connection, despair into dedication, and oppression into strength.
by Astra Taylor, Leah Hunt-Hendrix via The Guardian on March 14, 2024
Spectators and witnesses at the trial for a case involving an automobile accident, Oxford, North Carolina, 1939.

A ‘Wary Faith’ in the Courts

A groundbreaking new book demonstrates that even during the days of slavery, African Americans knew a lot more about legal principles than has been imagined.
by Eric Foner via New York Review of Books on March 14, 2024
Black students from Alabama State College stage a mass rally on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol in 1960.
partner

What’s Behind the Fight Over Whether Nonprofits Can Be Forced to Disclose Donors’ Names

A reminder of how tricky it is to balance protecting transparency and freedom of association.
by Helen J. Knowles-Gardner via Made By History on January 16, 2024
Martin Howard, left, and Stephen Hopkins came to opposing conclusions about their colonial British identities.

Two Colonists Had Similar Identities, But Only One Felt Compelled to Remain Loyal

What might appear to be common values about shared identities can serve not as a bridge but a wedge.
by Abby Chandler via The Conversation on January 4, 2024
The Boston Tea Party.

Why Some Founding Fathers Disapproved of the Boston Tea Party

While many Americans gushed about the effectiveness of the ‘Destruction of the Tea,’ others thought it went too far.
by Dave Roos via HISTORY on December 11, 2023
Lithograph sketch of a large manor surrounded by trees

"They Were Added to the List of Unfortunates": French Caribbean Refugees in Philadelphia

On the mobility controls faced by refugees, and who had the right to remain in American cities and states in the Early Republic.
by Megan Maruschke via Age of Revolutions on June 5, 2023
An English revolutionary takes the crown off of the head of the dead King Charles I.

What Happens When You Kill Your King

After the English Revolution—and an island’s experiment with republicanism—a genuine restoration was never in the cards.
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on April 17, 2023
15 women involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott; Rosa Parks's mugshot is the center.

The Women Behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott

We've heard about Rosa Parks and her crucial role, but Parks was just one of many women involved.
by Karen Grigsby Bates via NPR on March 22, 2023
Emissions from Union Carbide’s Ferro-Alloy Plant, Charleston, West Virginia, May 1973

The Lost Promise of Environmental Rights

As environmental rights seem on the verge of a comeback, it’s worth remembering why they once seemed so promising, and why that promise remains unfulfilled.
by Scott Wasserman Stern via New York Review of Books on March 15, 2023
Farmers working in an orchard.
partner

The Unlikely Supporters of a Bill That Would Increase Guest Workers

The history of guest worker programs should give pause to supporters of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.
by Matt Garcia via Made By History on December 14, 2022
Collage of eyes.

Who’s Watching

The evolution of the right to privacy.
by Marina Manoukian via The Baffler on December 1, 2022
Engraving of an attempt to start a freight train, under a guard of U.S. marshals during the great railway strike of 1886.

Historians' Letter to President Biden About Looming Railroad Strike

More than 500 historians signed onto this letter of support for the demands of railway workers.
on November 30, 2022
J. Edgar Hoover in 1924.

How J. Edgar Hoover Went From Hero to Villain

Before his abuses of power were exposed, he was celebrated as a scourge of Nazis, Communists, and subversives.
by Jack Goldsmith via The Atlantic on November 22, 2022
Flag of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs

The Supreme Court Case That Could Break Native American Sovereignty

Haaland v. Brackeen could have major consequences for tribes’ right to exist as political entities.
by Rebecca Nagle via The Atlantic on November 8, 2022
An American flag stylized as a ball bearing maze.

The United States’ Unamendable Constitution

How our inability to change America’s most important document is deforming our politics and government.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on October 26, 2022
A mural dedicated to George Floyd, left, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery in Tampa.
partner

Race, Class and Gender Shape How We See Age and Childhood

Assessing age — and protecting children — has always been subjective.
by Bill Bush, Erin Mysogland via Made By History on October 18, 2022
Black and white photo of pedestrian and vehicle traffic in Los Angeles

When Cities Treated Cars as Dangerous Intruders

To many urban Americans in the 1920s, the car and its driver were tyrants that deprived others of their freedom.
by Peter Norton via The MIT Press Reader on July 25, 2022
Silhouettes of a father and son looking at a sunset.
partner

Father’s Day Once Was Highly Political — and Could Become So Again

The holiday’s lack of history allowed activists to give it meaning after America’s divorce laws changed.
by Kristin Celello via Made By History on June 19, 2022
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