American History

Sylvia Townsend Warner, the author whose first book was chosen as the first Book of the Month selection in 1926, was openly involved in relationships with both men and women, a fact that scandalized readers.

Don't Judge the Book-of-the-Month Club By Its Cover

Although today you might associate its name with staid offerings, the club’s first book was by an openly queer author

Henry Peter Bosse Construction of Rock and Brush Dam, L.W., 1891 cyanotype

Photographs of America’s Eastern Treasures Finally Have Their Moment in the Limelight

A neglected period of American photographic history goes on display at the National Gallery of Art

Daylight saving time, which has a history dating back to Benjamin Franklin, starts this Sunday.

During (and After) WWII, Some States Had Year-Round Daylight Saving Time

A 1963 'Time Magazine' article called it "a chaos of time"

Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1806

Collection of Alexander Hamilton’s Documents Can Now Be Viewed Online

Among them are Hamilton's first report as Secretary of Treasury, and a steamy love letter to his wife

Mildred and Richard Loving, subjects of the documentary The Loving Story and the feature-film Loving. Their story will be a topic of discussion at the History Film Forum.

History Film Forum Hashes Out Truth and Myth in Hollywood

The four-day Forum looks into time travel, black America, Poe and other depictions of history in the media

This Adopt-A-Highway sign is located on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway. The program, which began in Texas, is now used by states across the country.

Two States Have Gone to Court to Keep the KKK From Adopting a Highway

In 2016, Georgia's Department of Transportation actually put the program on hold so it wouldn't have to respond to the hate group's application

No images of Casor survive to the present day. Tobacco fields like this one, however, would have been what he saw daily.

The Horrible Fate of John Casor, The First Black Man to be Declared Slave for Life in America

Black people in early America weren't slaves. After this lawsuit, they could be

Thaddeus Kosciuszko

The Polish Patriot Who Helped Americans Beat the British

Thaddeus Kosciuszko engineered the colonial defenses in some of the Revolution's most critical battles

For years, boys at Fernald State School were subjected to experiments using radioactive tracers in oatmeal.

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Radioactive Oatmeal Go Down

When MIT and Quaker Oats paired up to conduct experiments on unsuspecting young boys

Portrait of women shirtwaist strikers holding copies of "The Call," a socialist newspaper, in 1910

The American Garment Workers Who Helped Inspire International Women’s Day

Jobs in the garment industry were some of the first to empower women in the industrial workforce

A Pearl Harbor Veteran Tells His Harrowing Story of Survival

Mickey Ganitch, a U.S. sailor stationed at Pearl Harbor, was gearing up for a football game on December 7, 1941, when hundreds of fighter pilots appeared

Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship on the eve of America's entry into the First World War. This picture comes from 1906 and shows the officer staff of the Regiment of Infantry.

Puerto Ricans Got U.S. Citizenship 100 Years Ago—But Their Identity Remains Fraught

Even a century later, those who live in the U.S. territory have little autonomy

Abigail and John Adams's letters to each other show a rare marriage of equals, historians say.

The Letters of Abigail and John Adams Show Their Mutual Respect

We still have 1,160 of their letters, written across the years of their marriage

Grey Gardens in East Hampton, NY

Grey Gardens Estate Is on the Market for $20 Million

All feline tenants have been evicted

Excavations inside the Fiesta Mall

Skeletons Found Under a Florida Wine Shop May Be Some of America’s First Colonists

The skeletons, found in St. Augustine, Florida, likely date to the first decades of the oldest European settlement in the United States

President James Buchanan thought that a binding Supreme Court decision legitimizing slavery would bring the country together.

President James Buchanan Directly Influenced the Outcome of the Dred Scott Decision

He's remembered as a president who tried to unify a fractured nation with little success, doing damage along the way

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. This photo was taken in 1969.

Happy Birthday to the First Woman in Space

She spent almost three days in space on her first flight

Einstein enjoyed a 20-year friendship with African-American civil rights leader and actor Paul Robeson (far right). Also shown are former vice president Henry Wallace (left) and Lewis L. Wallace of Princeton University (second from right).

How Albert Einstein Used His Fame to Denounce American Racism

The world-renowned physicist was never one to just stick to the science

Over 400 men, women and children were sold on this day in 1859. It was the largest single sale of enslaved people in U.S. history but is barely talked about today.

The Horrors of the 'Great Slave Auction'

The largest sale of enslaved people ever to take place in the U.S. tore families apart

An 1851 map of the United States shows Texas and the New Mexico, Utah and Indian Territories.

For More Than 150 Years, Texas Has Had the Power to Secede…From Itself

A quirk of a 19th-century Congressional resolution could allow Texas to split up into five states

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