television — Bunk History

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Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon Controls Wrestling History in Order to Control All of Wrestling

How the WWE chairman warped pro wrestling all the way to WrestleMania 39.

by Abraham Josephine Riesman via Polygon on March 27, 2023

Bernard King of the New Jersey Nets driving past Elvin Hayes of the Washington Bullets, in March of 1978.

The Racial Politics of the N.B.A. Have Always Been Ugly

A new book argues that the real history of the league is one of strife between Black labor and white ownership.

by Jay Caspian Kang via The New Yorker on March 21, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover and two other men pose with guns.

The Cult of J. Edgar Hoover

A zealot through and through, he ran the FBI like a religious sect.

by Adam Hochschild via The Nation on March 7, 2023

Cast members of the television show "Sesame Street" circa 1969, pose on the set with some of the puppet characters. From left: Will Lee, Matt Robinson, Bob McGrath and Loretta Long, along with Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Ernie, Bert and Oscar the Grouch. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Mississippi Banned ‘Sesame Street’ for Showing Black and White Kids Playing

In 1970, an all-white state commission thought Mississippi was "not yet ready" to see a racially integration depicted on television. The backlash was swift.

by Kristin Hunt via Retropolis on February 5, 2023

A naked David Opal signaling a peace sign with his hands on a TV screen in front of a background of a 1970s themed living room.

What Became of the Oscar Streaker?

After Robert Opel dashed naked across the stage in 1974, he ran for President and settled into the gay leather scene.

by Michael Schulman via The New Yorker on January 30, 2023

Khalifa International Stadium near Doha, Qatar.

Qatar, the World Cup & the Echoes of History

How stadiums in Qatar connect to a bridge in Kentucky and a dam in West Virginia.

by Jason Steinhauer via History Club on December 4, 2022

JFK and Jacqueline in the convertible limousine in Dallas.

A Weekend in Dallas

Revisiting political assassinations.

by Noah Kulwin via noahkulwin.substack on November 22, 2022

Chuck Norris as Sergeant Cordell Walker in Walker: Texas Ranger.

Walkers and Lone Rangers: How Pop Culture Shaped the Texas Rangers Mythology

Texas’s elite police force has long played the hero in film and television, although the reality is far more complex.

by Sean O'Neal via Texas Monthly on November 16, 2022

Lord Beaverbrook and Winston Churchill on the HMS Prince of Wales during the Atlantic Conference, Newfoundland, Canada, August 1941.

The Limits of Press Power

To what extent did newspapers influence public opinion in the US and Britain before and during World War II?

by Geoffrey Wheatcroft via New York Review of Books on October 22, 2022

Lt. Col. Oliver North in 1987 before testifying to a committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal.

The 1980s Hearings That Explain Why Trump’s Base Still Loves Him

Bombshell revelations won’t hurt the former president with his core supporters. We have only to look at Oliver North to know why.

by Kristin Kobes Du Mez via Made by History on June 29, 2022

People in Ukrainian subway station converted into bomb shelter with makeshift beds and kitchen.

The History of the Family Bomb Shelter

Throughout history, the family bomb shelter has reflected the shifting optimism, anxieties, and cynicism of the nuclear age.

by Thomas Bishop via Zócalo Public Square on April 18, 2022

Portraits of Dean Dixon, William Grant Still, and Margaret Bonds, three African American classical musicians.

A Prophecy Unfulfilled?

What a new book and six companion videos have to say about the fate of Black classical music in America.

by Mark N. Grant via The American Scholar on April 2, 2022

Protesters holding anti-War on Drugs signs with a red target printed over them

How the Drug War Dies

A few decades ago, the left and the right, politicians and the public, universally embraced the criminalization of drug use. But a new consensus has emerged.

by Maia Szalavitz via The Nation on March 21, 2022

Ketanji Brown Jackson speaking at a podium with Biden standing behind her.

Why Supreme Court Confirmations Have Become So Bitter

The defeat of Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987 changed the way justices are confirmed today.

via Retro Report on March 17, 2022

Photograph of Marian Brook, a fictional character in HBO's The Gilded Age

Philanthropy and the Gilded Age

As the HBO series The Gilded Age suggests, charity allowed wealthy women to play a visible role in public life. It was also a site of inter-class animosity.

by Annie Bares via JSTOR Daily on March 9, 2022

Collage of William F. Buckley by Aaron Martin.

The Conservative and the Murderer

Why did William F. Buckley campaign to free Edgar Smith?

by Sam Adler-Bell via The New Republic on March 7, 2022

Screen shots of PBS NewsHour anchors with title cards about conflicts in Angola, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Afghanistan.

“Burning with a Deadly Heat”

PBS NewsHour coverage of the hot wars of the Cold War.

by Alyssa Knapp via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on March 7, 2022

Odetta sitting on a park bench playing a guitar.

How Odetta Revolutionized Folk Music

She animated the horror and emotional intensity in American labor songs by projecting them like a European opera singer.

by Sasha Frere-Jones via The New Yorker on February 24, 2022

Eartha Kitt engaged in conversation with Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House

When Eartha Kitt Disrupted the Ladies Who Lunch

The documentary short “Catwoman vs. the White House” reconstructs an unexpected moment of activism during the Vietnam War.

by Scott Calonico, Lauren Elyse Garcia via The New Yorker on February 16, 2022

Screen capture of Martin Luther King Jr. giving a press conference.

What Martin Luther King Jr. Said About the Filibuster: ‘A Minority of Misguided Senators’

The context in which King shared his views on the filibuster is the same one in which the Senate now finds itself: amid battles over voting rights legislation.

by Gillian Brockell via Retropolis on January 4, 2022

Comedian Charlie Hill on stage with a microphone.

‘Part of Why We Survived’

Is there something in particular about coming from a Native background that makes a person want to write and perform comedy?

by Ian Frazier via New York Review of Books on December 23, 2021

Cover of an early Superman comic book.

The Vigilante World of Comic Books

A sweeping new history traces the rise of characters caught in a Manichaean struggle between good and evil.

by Scott Bradfield via The New Republic on December 16, 2021

Photograph of a dilapidated mall from the rear parking lot.

Mallstalgia

Once derided as cesspools of Reagan-era consumerist excess, the shopping mall somehow became an unlikely sort-of quasi-public space that is now disappearing.

by Jason Tebbe via Tropics of Meta on November 29, 2021

Woman sitting on her living room sofa, 1920s; the room also includes a coffee table, a chair, lamps, paintings, and a houseplant.

Vintage Photos Show What Living Rooms Looked Like Before TV

Photos reveal how people structured their living rooms before the television became widespread.

via Vintage Everyday on November 23, 2021

Poster of American flag asking people to pledge allegiance and silence about the war.

World War II’s “Rumor Control” Project

How the federal government enlisted ordinary citizens to spy on each other for the war effort.

by Neely Tucker via Library of Congress Blog on November 2, 2021

A blurry pixilated image of Jimmy Carter on a television screen.

How the Ghost of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency Haunts Everything Biden Says About Supply Shortages

The last from-the-top critique of American overconsumption generated a massive backlash.

by Kevin Mattson via Slate on October 22, 2021

Lucille Ball wrapping a baby doll in a diaper on "I Love Lucy" (left) and drawing of tie-waist skirt design (right)

How a Genius Fashion Invention Freed Midcentury Women Like Lucille Ball to Be Pregnant in Public

The inventor thought her pregnant sister looked like “a beach ball in an unmade bed.”

by Michelle Millar Fisher, Amber Winick via Slate on October 12, 2021

TV with black and white video game on the screen

Computer Space Launched the Video Game Industry 50 Years Ago – Here's Why Haven't Heard of it

The game that launched today’s massive video game industry was not a roaring success. The oft-told story of why turns out to be off the mark.

by Noah Wardrip Fruin via The Conversation on October 11, 2021

Elvis receiving polio vaccine

Elvis Presley Gets the Polio Vaccine on The Ed Sullivan Show, Persuading Millions to Get Vaccinated

In 1956, Elvis Presley was vaccinated backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show in order to encourage teenagers to get the polio vaccination.

by Josh Jones via Open Culture on September 15, 2021

Black and white photo of the 1940 Chevrolet half-ton.

The Rugged History of the Pickup Truck

At first, it was all about hauling things we needed. Then the vehicle itself became the thing we wanted.

by Jeff MacGregor via Smithsonian on August 17, 2021

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