History

Margo Jefferson

A Retelling: The Clubwomen A Retelling: The Clubwomen

A writer reflects on her grandmothers’ struggles with progress and peril in a changing America.

Sep 2, 2015 / Margo Jefferson

W.E.B. Du Bois

Historians of Color Are Revolutionizing the Narrative of ‘American Exceptionalism’ Historians of Color Are Revolutionizing the Narrative of ‘American Exceptionalism’

For too long, we have looked in the wrong place and race for the genesis of our national story.

Sep 1, 2015 / David Levering Lewis

Wedding chairs

Feminism Does Not Depend on Whether You Take Your Husband’s Name Feminism Does Not Depend on Whether You Take Your Husband’s Name

Changing your name is not a feminist act. At the same time, you have not betrayed feminism if you change your name.

Aug 31, 2015 / Michelle Goldberg

Students Protest BLM

What a Band of 20th-Century Alabama Communists Can Teach Black Lives Matter and the Offspring of Occupy What a Band of 20th-Century Alabama Communists Can Teach Black Lives Matter and the Offspring of Occupy

On the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking history, Hammer and Hoe, author Robin D.G. Kelley discusses the lessons Alabama’s forgotten black communists can offer today’s activis...

Aug 31, 2015 / Sarah Jaffe

Donald Trump.

Give Trump This: The 14th Amendment Has Been Working Overtime Give Trump This: The 14th Amendment Has Been Working Overtime

How healthy is it to found a democracy on this one slender reed?

Aug 26, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Julian Bond

Julian Bond Built Coalitions, Practiced Solidarity, and Showed Us the Future Julian Bond Built Coalitions, Practiced Solidarity, and Showed Us the Future

When the civil-rights leader was nominated for vice president in 1968, we got a glimpse of the new politics.

Aug 17, 2015 / John Nichols

August 14, 1935: President Franklin Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act

August 14, 1935: President Franklin Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act August 14, 1935: President Franklin Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act

“Unfortunately the present law seems doomed from the start by its complex, slovenly, and mangled character.”

Aug 14, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Alfred Jarry’s Fun Home

Alfred Jarry’s Fun Home Alfred Jarry’s Fun Home

Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi gets reimagined as the murderous fantasy of an angsty teenage boy.

Aug 13, 2015 / Alisa Solomon

Ukrainian nationalism

How Ukraine’s New Memory Commissar Is Controlling the Nation’s Past How Ukraine’s New Memory Commissar Is Controlling the Nation’s Past

Volodymyr Viatrovych was the driving force behind new laws that restrict free speech and regulate how history is written.

Aug 13, 2015 / Jared McBride

José Martí statue in Central Park NYC

Walking New York With Cuba’s Revolutionary Poet Walking New York With Cuba’s Revolutionary Poet

“Culture is as subtle as air, and like perfume more vaporous than visible,” José Martí said in 1884. “But a sign of culture is a desire for it, and this is New York.”

Aug 12, 2015 / Rosa Miriam Elizalde

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