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USA Today Announces Crowd-Sourcing Black History Project

USA TODAY is asking readers to share what they know about their family history with our journalists in 2019.

A Brief History of the History Wars

by Rebecca Onion

Conservative uproar over the New York Times’ 1619 Project is just the most recent clash in a decades-old battle over how we should understand American history.

The Great Land Robbery

by Vann R. Newkirk II

A war waged by deed of title has dispossessed 98 percent of black agricultural landowners in America.

A New Definition of “Museum” Sparks International Debate

The International Council of Museums will vote on a new definition of museums in September. The proposed change includes language about “social justice, global equality and planetary wellbeing.” Critics say the text is too political for most museums to employ.  

Cal rodgers’ 1911 coast-to-coast flight in Vin Fiz Flyer biplane

by Ken Lawrence

Calbraith Perry Rodgers performed one of the greatest feats in early aviation history when he completed the first transcontinental trip by air from Sept. 17 to Nov. 5, 1911.

New Documents Show Japan's Wartime Emperor Showed Remorse Over Nanjing Massacre

The notes, taken by former Imperial Household Agency chief Michiji Tajima, were released Monday by public broadcaster NHK, which aired a documentary on the subject Saturday.

A rural town confronts its buried history of mass killings of black Americans

100 years after hundreds of African Americans were reportedly killed in Elaine, Arkansas, a memorial is set to bring details of the tragedy to light.

How a Gerrymander Nearly Cost Us the Bill of Rights

by Richard Labunski

Gerrymandering very nearly cost us the Bill of Rights and could have plunged the country into chaos from which it would not have recovered.

Before Trump eyed Greenland: Here’s what happened last time the US bought a large chunk of the Arctic

by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley

With a stroke of a pen, Tsar Alexander II ceded Alaska, his country’s last remaining foothold in North America, to the United States for US$7.2 million.

NAACP challenges legality of Confederate names on Virginia schools

The NAACP is asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to “eradicate the vestiges of a shameful, racist educational system in Hanover County” by ordering the schools to be renamed.

National Security Archive Releases New Briefing Book on Chernobyl through the Eyes of the Soviet Politburo, KGB, and U.S. Intelligence

Declassified documents detail highest-level reactions, cover-ups, critiques using sources never before translated into English.

Three Washington exhibitions explore the complex history of the women's suffrage movement

As the 19th Amendment turns 100, three exhibitions in Washington explore the contentious — and unfinished — struggle for voting rights.

Push for Ethnic Studies in Schools Faces a Dilemma: Whose Stories to Tell

California’s newly proposed model ethnic studies curriculum has led to bitter debate in recent weeks.

1619 Project: New York Times Magazine Publishes Special Edition Dedicated to American Slavery and Its Legacies

The powerful collection includes essays by historians, poets, columnists, a variety of academics, and more.

Help the New York Times Create a Walking Map of Women's History

Researchers estimate that women’s stories make up just 0.5 percent of recorded history. 

Controversial Monument to Women’s Suffrage Redesigned to Include Sojourner Truth

The abolitionist and women’s rights activist will join Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in the proposed Central Park sculpture that had previously been accused of racism and whitewashing history.

Illinois Governor Signs Bill Mandating Public Schools Teach LGBTQ History

The measure is being praised as a “life-saving law” that has placed the state “on the right side of history.”  

Stonewall and Queens

by Marc Stein

The overlooked importance of Queens, New York in LGBT history. 

What 1860 and 1968 can teach America about the 2020 presidential election

There are lessons that can be learned from examining this election’s parallels with two previous presidential elections – 1860 and 1968 – both of which left America deeply divided.

The Hotel Historian Is at Your Service

Part reference librarian, part gossip columnist, the hotel historian has become an increasingly popular figure in high-end hotels or inns with actual history.