Person

Shoshi Parks

Bylines

How ‘Blackbirders’ Forced Tens of Thousands of Pacific Islanders Into Slavery After the Civil War

The decline of Southern industries paved the way for plantations in Fiji and Australia, where victims of “blackbirding” endured horrific working conditions.

by Shoshi Parks via Smithsonian on December 5, 2024
The Black Composers of New Orleans Opera Are Finally Getting Their Due

And it's all thanks to this mother-daughter dream team.

by Shoshi Parks via Atlas Obscura on September 13, 2023
How the U.S. Almost Became a Nation of Hippo Ranchers

In 1910, a failed House bill sought to increase the availability of low-cost meat by importing hippopotamuses that would be killed to make "lake cow bacon."

by Shoshi Parks via Smithsonian on May 30, 2023
Inside the Diet That Fueled Chinese Transcontinental Railroad Workers

Denied the free meals of their Irish counterparts, Chinese laborers learned to thrive on their own.

by Shoshi Parks via Atlas Obscura on November 30, 2022
American Women's Obsession With Being Thin Began With This 'Scientist'

Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich were hooked on his diet.

by Shoshi Parks via Timeline on May 29, 2018
These Horrifying ‘Human Zoos’ Delighted American Audiences at the Turn of the 20th Century

‘Specimens’ were acquired from Africa, Asia, and the Americas by deceptive human traffickers.

by Shoshi Parks via Timeline on March 20, 2018

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