Historians/History

How a Woman Born into Slavery Helped Build New York City's First African American Research Library

by Elizabeth Hohl

At the tail end of Women's History Month, it's worth remembering Victoria Earle Matthews, who lived her life under one principle: history matters.

The Four Biggest Libertarian Myths About the Civil War

by James Oakes

Andrew Napolitano was peddling snake oil on The Daily Show recently about Lincoln and slavery. Here are the facts.

Nick Kristof Ought to Be Paying Attention to History Camp

by Elizabeth M. Covart

The first ever unconference for independent historians proved to be a remarkable success.

When Cigarettes Were Good for Women

by Blain Roberts

You've come a long way, maybe.

Why Women's History Month?

by Ruth Rosen

Unfortunately, it is still necessary to have a token month every year devoted to women's lives.

Nina Simone: The Antidote to the "We Shall Overcome" Myth of the Civil Rights Movement

by Ruth Feldstein

In Concert celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this month. That'll learn ya.

Once Upon a Time Governments Paid Slave Reparations ... to Slaveowners

by Greg Grandin

And why not? The early modern world knew just how much was built on the backs of slave labor. Would that we were able to acknowledge that today.

The Unmaking of a President: Rethinking Watergate at Forty [VIDEO]

It has been forty years since the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon's resignation from the presidency. To mark the occasion, the AHA Annual Meeting in January hosted a dedicated Watergate panel.

How JFK Slammed the Door on Che Guevara's Offer to Improve U.S.-Cuban Relations

by Jack Colhoun

Che's backdoor "cigar diplomacy" was returned in kind by the Kennedy brothers with Operation Mongoose, the plan to overthrow Castro.

In Defense of the American Studies Association

by Alan Wald

The ASA's support of the BDS movement seeks to enhance the academic freedom of Palestinians.

Why Do Conservative Southerners Loudly Insist That Kids Be Taught Lies about the Civil War?

by Adam Laats

Texas activist Bill Ames is proposing new revisions to the state's school curriculum, including teaching that slavery was not the leading cause of the Civil War.

Presenting History Camp, The Unconference for Local Historians

by Lee Wright

Building on the barcamp model (also used as the basis for THATcamp), the History Camp conference takes place March 8 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Remembering H. Wayne Morgan, Pioneer of Gilded Age Studies

by Lewis L. Gould

Morgan, who passed away in January, almost single-handedly rescued the study of the late nineteenth century from history's proverbial ash heap.

What the Left and Right Still Get Wrong About Ronald Reagan

by James Graham Wilson

Newly-discovered documents show both sides missed important aspects of Reagan's legacy.

Grover Cleveland, Lover? Read the Love Letter He Wrote to His 21-Year-Old Bride

by The Shapell Manuscript Foundation

Read the never-before-publishd love letter Cleveland wrote to Frances Folsom.

Pete Seeger: The Red Warbler

by Ronald Radosh

A great folk singer who contributed much to the American story, he was fatally flawed by the leftism he imbibed with his mother’s milk.

Do We Ever Actually Learn Anything from History?

by William J. Astore

The problem is our decision makers have no respect for the lessons of history.

"There Was No Barrier Between [Seeger] and All of His Friends and Supporters"

by Robin Lindley

Pete Seeger's friend, historian Michael Honey, says Seeger was the rare celebrity who picked up his own phone.

Why I Despise @HistoryInPics

by Sarah Werner

@HistoryInPics and similar Twitter streams post “old” pictures and little tidbits of captions for them. That's it. No attribution, no link, no context, and a casual relationship to the truth.

Doris Kearns Goodwin Tackles the “Irrepressible Conflict” of 1912

by Sheldon M. Stern

William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt used to be the closest of intimates... until the election of 1912.