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Monuments to the victims of traffic deaths

When Cities Made Monuments to Traffic Deaths

A century ago, cars killed pedestrians and cyclists in record numbers. As traffic deaths rise again, it’s time to remember how US cities once responded to this safety crisis.
Anti-abortion protestors and police in front of Supreme Court
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The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Powerful Use of Language Paid Off

Nearing an antiabortion victory five decades in the making.
Black and white photo of Steve Kaslov and other Romani Americans

Romani Rights and the Roosevelts: The Case of Steve Kaslov

Steve Kaslov sought to improve the civic status and rights of Romani people in the United States.
Picture of the many different people that make up the US.

The Right to Leave

Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of open migration. But who qualified as a refugee?
A still from the 1955 film 'Wiretapper.' The still depicts a man wearing headphones and touching a wire.

When New York City was a Wiretapper’s Dream

Eavesdropping flourished after WWII, aided by legal loopholes, clever hacks, and “private ears”.
1963 black and white photo of protesters marching for racial equality in Washington D.C.

Just Give Me My Equality

Amidst growing suspicion that equality talk is cheap, a new book explains where egalitarianism went wrong—and what it still has to offer.
A police officer standing over a victim of the Sharpeville Massacre, South Africa, March 21, 1960

The Etymology of Terror

For more than 150 years after it was coined, “terrorism” meant violence inflicted by the state on its people. How did the word come to mean the reverse?

The Hospital Occupation That Changed Public Health Care

The Young Lords took over Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx on July 14, 1970. Their demand? Accessible, quality health care for all.
A black and white photo of new suburban homes, 1963.

When Real Estate Agents Led the Fight Against Fair Housing

A new book argues that the real estate industry’s campaign to defend housing segregation still echoes in today’s politics.
The illustration “Vaccinating the Poor,” by Solomon Eytinge Jr

The Surprisingly Strong Supreme Court Precedent Supporting Vaccine Mandates

In 1905, the high court made a fateful ruling with eerie parallels to today: One person’s liberty can’t trump everyone else’s.
‘The Proposed Emigrant Dumping Site’; cartoon by Victor Gillam from Judge magazine, March 22, 1890

Whose Freedom?

On the ways that people have conflated freedom with whiteness but pays too little attention to the force of freedom as a concept.
Picture of Tucker Carlson on Fox News.

3 Tropes of White Victimhood

Leading conservative pundits today are pounding themes that were popular among opponents of Reconstruction.
Lithograph of two men shooting one man on the ground

The Young America Movement and the Crisis of Household Politics

In the 19th century, freedom from government interference mapped onto opposition of women's rights.
Artistic photo of John Marshall

America’s ‘Great Chief Justice’ Was an Unrepentant Slaveholder

John Marshall not only owned people; he owned many of them, and aggressively bought them when he could.
Title page of a collection of the letters that debated Great Britain, inscribed to President John Adams.

Massachusettensis and Novanglus: The Last Great Debate Prior to the American Revolution

James M. Smith explains the last debates between Loyalists and Patriots prior to the official outbreak of the American Revolution.
Masked person wearing transgender flag around their neck holding heart-shaped sign with colors of transgender flag (blue, pink, and white) that reads "TRANS PEOPLE BELONG"
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Anti-Trans Legislation has Never Been About Protecting Children

The roots of “protecting children” in U.S. political rhetoric lie in efforts to defend white supremacy.
People protesting Trump's immigration policies.
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Thirty Years After Mount Pleasant Erupted, a Push for Better Treatment Persists

American policy continues to create problems for Central American refugees.
A screencap from a news show reading "Outrage after video taken inside Florida supermarket goes viral" from MSNBC.

Misinformation, Vaccination, and “Medical Liberty” in the Age of COVID-19

Vaccination is of critical importance right now. History shows us that our problems are nothing new.
Painted photo of Northwest Territory

A Confusion of Language

On the legal foundations that spurred centuries of civil rights movements.
Silhouette with pieces of constitutions and other prints inside

When Constitutions Took Over the World

Was this new age spurred by the ideals of the Enlightenment or by the imperatives of global warfare?
A colorful graphic featuring Curt Flood with a key on his necklace.

Curt Flood Belongs in the Hall of Fame

His defiance changed baseball and helped assert Black people’s worth in American culture.
Posters reading "Is your child vaccinated? Vaccination prevents smallpox"

The Smallpox-Fighting “Virus Squads” That Stormed Tenements in the Middle of the Night

In the 1800s, they helped lay the groundwork for the anti-vaccine movement.
John C. Calhoun

American Heretic, American Burke

A review of Robert Elder's new biography of John C. Calhoun.
Signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Against the Consensus Approach to History

How not to learn about the American past.
African American men who escaped slavery at a US Army Camp.

John Wolcott Phelps’ Emancipation Proclamation

The story of John Wolcott Phelps and his push for Lincoln to emancipate all slaves.
A courtroom in Milwaukee, 1930.

How Did We End Up With Our Current Public Defender System?

Without a more fundamental transformation of criminal law, public defenders often provide only a limited form of equality and fairness before the law.
Book cover for The Two Faces of American Freedom

The Two Faces of American Freedom, Ten Years Later: Part One

On the ten year anniversary of Aziz Rana's book, Henry Brooks interviews him on his influential book and what it might teach us about the legacies of populism.

Making the Supreme Court Safe for Democracy

Beyond packing schemes, we need to diminish the high court’s power.

Our Chief Danger

The story of the democratic movements that the framers of the U.S. Constitution feared and sought to suppress.

Rendering Judgment on America

A new book systematically defends the American Founding against those who believe it was destined to end in nihilism.

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