July 21, 2022
Philip J. Deloria— In conjunction with Indian removal, popular American imagery began to play on earlier symbolic linkages between Indians and the past, and these images eventually produced the full-blown… READ MORE
December 8, 2021
Paul Freedman— When I was asked to consider writing Why Food Matters, I was told that this was not supposed to be an introduction to the topic of food, but… READ MORE
August 18, 2021
Nemata Amelia Ibitayo Blyden— In January 1830, a year after David Walker published his Appeal, fifty-one-year-old George M. Erskine of Tennessee set sail for the newly settled colony of Liberia. With… READ MORE
June 18, 2021
Soyica Diggs Colbert— On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech at an Independence Day celebration that asked, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” His question… READ MORE
June 3, 2021
Michael Shnayerson— By the age of twelve, Siegel was essentially spending his days as he pleased—but what he pleased to do, more than play games, was embark on petty crime…. READ MORE
April 27, 2021
Molly Rogers— When in 1976 fifteen daguerreotypes of black men and women were discovered in the attic of the Peabody Museum, the question of their meaning and purpose was immediately… READ MORE
April 19, 2021
Tracy Campbell— As 1943 dawned, the relentless fear that had gripped the nation since Pearl Harbor had somewhat lessened, and although most understood that the most difficult days of the… READ MORE
February 15, 2021
Michael Hattem– For a few decades, American history has played a prominent role in the most current iteration of culture wars in the United States. We saw this most recently… READ MORE
February 8, 2021
John Fabian Witt— While the courts took a middle path, public discourse around contagion remained subject to confusion and hysteria. Sometimes epidemics produced panicked overreach by the state, as in… READ MORE
February 3, 2021
William G. Thomas III— The poplars swayed high above Edward Queen and Charles Mahoney on that May morning. The summer heat crawled up from the Patuxent River, summoned from its… READ MORE
Fashion or Function?