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New Digital Access to Freedmen's Bureau Records Boon to Black Genealogists

Ancestry.com has made 3.5 million records of the Freedmen's Bureau available to researchers, making family history and genealogy research much more accessible to African Americans and scholars of Black history. 

Policing Religious Exemptions to Vaccines

A lawsuit against Creighton University, a Jesuit institution, would expand the justification for religious exemptions to vaccination from explicit declarations of opposition by a religious body to any impulse of individual conscience. 

Can This Group Bring Political Interference Under Control at UNC?

 “I worry that we are going to have some of our best and brightest faculty just take the attitude that, well, gosh, I don’t need to put up with this. I don’t need to put up with people who seem to want to tamper with my ability to do my job.”

New Heterodox Academy Leader's Ties to Koch Network Compromise Intellectual Diversity Mission

by John Warner

The leadership choice for Heterodox Academy shows the organization is more oriented toward fighting the left than truly promoting diversity of thought. 

Looking for the Gold Rush Town of Chinese Camp

"Sucheng Chan, a retired historian and the author of more than 15 books on Asian American history, notes that this region, called the Southern Mines, was home to almost half of the Chinese in California in 1860," but that history is poorly preserved for visitors today.

XOXO, Ruling Class​: Gossip Girl, The O.C., and the New Gilded Age

David Klion looks at TV producer Josh Schwartz's jump from "The OC" to "Gossip Girl" and argues that, after the 2007 financial crisis, popular culture was able to show the sociopathy of the super-rich. `

Osage Nation Denied Purchase of Cave With Ancient Drawings at Auction

Serving both as a sacred burial site and the location of 290 prehistoric glyphs, the cave holds cultural significance for the Osage Nation, which called the sale "heartbreaking." 

Detroit Historical Society Launches Interactive Walking tour of Historic Black Bottom District

Black Bottom was a predominately Black neighborhood in Detroit that was demolished for redevelopment in the late 1950s, and was replaced with the Lafayette Park district and I-375.

California Ski Resort to Change Racist, Sexist Name

"In modern usage, the word "squaw" is considered to be "offensive, derogatory, racist, and misogynistic," the resort, formerly known as Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, said as it explained its reasoning."

Did the FBI Fail to Investigate Civil Rights Killing Cold Cases?

The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2008 authorizes the FBI to prosecute surviing suspects in acts of racist terrorism. It's not clear that they have exercised this power vigilantly. 

Is this the Moment for Dante's Purgatory?

by Judith Thurman

Dante's epic examined the uncharted space of the new Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. New translations make his vision speak to today's mood of unsettlement and uncertainty.

White House Declassifies FBI Report Detailing Saudi Nationals' Connections To 9/11

The Biden administration has declassified a secret FBI report that links some of the 9/11 hijackers to Saudi nationals living in the United States.

Ken Burns's "Muhammad Ali" Well-Crafted, But Not Groundbreaking

Ken Burns has an irresistable subject for his latest project. The problem isn't the quality of his film, but that so many others have gotten there first. 

The History of the Debt Ceiling: How a Routine Procedure Became Routine Political Brinksmanship

It's clear that the originators of legislation establishing a debt limit for the United States did not intend for the measure to be a land mine threatening to derail the government's operations on a recurring basis. 

(Review) "Impeachment" Reminds us Monica Lewinsky Wasn't the Villain

The lurid details of Ken Starr's report on the Clinton-Lewinsky affair have hidden the fact that Starr dragged Lewinsky into the public eye in his zeal to punish Clinton; her life was upended while he suffered no consequences. 

Tuskegee, Alabama Confederate Memorial at Center of Lawsuit in Majority-Black City

The presence of the statue in the city, home of the historic Tuskegee University and training place of the famed World War II aviation heroes, has angered locals for decades. 

As Taliban Return, a History of Afghan Women’s Rights

The feared subordination of women under the Taliban in Afghanistan is not a return to "tradition" but reflects the complexity of differing regions and conflicting ethnic and cultural groups. 

A Fringe Group Attacked Anne Frank; A Writer Reflects on How Her Story Became Central to School Lessons

"Something has gone wrong if the diary is taught widely while our current struggles with racism are verboten in schools. I took a deep dive into how her story has been studied, taught, rewritten — and exploited."

"Negotiated Authenticity" and the Precarious Position of Black Creators in Television History

"Since its invention, television has shaped this country’s self-image. To the extent that we share notions of “normal,” “acceptable,” “funny,” “wrong,” and even “American,” television has helped define them. For decades, Black writers were shut out of the rooms in which those notions were scripted."

Man Restores a Ford Model T His Grandfather Built a Century Ago

"When I think about my childhood memories of this car—and how tough it was—and I think about how much I enjoy driving it now, I can understand why this little model is the one that put the world on wheels."