American History

The final title card for Guiding Light.

TV's Longest-Running Soap Opera Was First Broadcast 80 Years Ago

Guiding Light had over 15,700 episodes between radio and television

This Map Shows Over a Century of Documented Lynchings in the United States

Mapping the history of racial terror

An undated box that originally held Eskimo Fudge Pies.

The Weird, Brief History of the Eskimo Pie Corporation

It was America’s first chocolate-covered ice cream bar, patented on this day in 1922

Woodrow Wilson

What Did President Wilson Mean When He Called for “Peace Without Victory” 100 Years Ago?

The iconic speech revealed the possibilities and the inherent problems with Wilsonian idealism

Paul Robeson, photographed by Alfredo Valente in 1940.

Remembering Paul Robeson, Actor, Sportsman and Leader

Among other things, Robeson transformed one of history’s most famous showtunes into a protest song

The head of the suffragist parade in Washington, 1913.

The Original Women's March on Washington and the Suffragists Who Paved the Way

They fought for the right to vote, but also advanced the causes for birth control, civil rights and economic equality

What Happens to President Obama's Papers and Artifacts Once He Leaves Office?

From Cuban cigars to a 7,000-page torture report

Edgar Allan Poe as imagined in an 1895 image by Swiss/French printmaker Félix Valloton.

Who Was the Poe Toaster? We Still Have No Idea

In Baltimore, they’re keeping the tradition of visiting Edgar Allan Poe’s grave for his birthday—but without the mystery

A mug shot of Iva Toguri D'Aquino, taken in prison in 1946.

Iva d'Aquino Toguri Remains the Only U.S. Citizen Convicted of Treason Who Has Ever Been Pardoned

She was an American DJ who served six years in prison for her wartime radio broadcasts from Japan

Detail of a surfer in "A View of Karakakooa, in Owyhee," an etching made by an artist accompanying the Cook expedition.

What the First European to Visit Hawaii Thought About Surfers

The Europeans were fascinated by Pacific Islanders' comfort in the water

Samuel Zemurray was sometimes called "The Banana Man."

Where We Got the Term “Banana Republic”

Hint: it’s not a great moment in American history

The rainbow at the top right in the window of the Lansdowne Portrait of George Washington (detail) was an 18th century symbol of God's blessings.

Why America Has a “President” Instead of an “Exalted Highness”

The title just used to mean someone who presided over a meeting

Carl Laemmle in 1918

This Hollywood Titan Foresaw the Horrors of Nazi Germany

Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures, wrote hundreds of affidavits to help refugees escape Europe

Anti-war demonstrators raise their hands toward the White House as they protest the shootings at Kent State University and the U.S. incursion into Cambodia, on May 9, 1970.

Eleven Times When Americans Have Marched in Protest on Washington

Revisiting some of the country’s most memorable uses of the right to assemble

Benjamin Franklin's portrait on the 2009 design of the hundred dollar bill.

Benjamin Franklin Was a Middle-Aged Widow Named Silence Dogood (And a Few Other Women)

The founding father wrote letters in the voice of female pseudonyms throughout his life

An early B-52.

In 1957, The U.S. Flew a Jet Around the World to Prove it Could Drop a Nuclear Bomb Anywhere

The B-52 bomber that made the flight was part of a new bomber class that was still proving its worth

Some states still celebrate the birthdays of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the same day.

Some States Celebrate MLK Day and Robert E. Lee’s Birthday on the Same Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. has been celebrated on the third Monday in January since the federal holiday was first observed in 1986

The Heinkel He-280, the world's first jet fighter, was developed in Nazi Germany during World War II.

Since First Successfully Used More Than 75 Years Ago, Ejection Seats Have Saved Thousands

The faster an airplane is moving, the harder it is to get out of: that's why ejection seats are so important

Bernardo de Galvez Statue, Central Business District, New Orleans, Louisiana

The Little-Remembered Ally Who Helped America Win the Revolution

Bernardo de Galvez’s involvement may not have been altruistic, but his contributions made a difference nonetheless

Men looking at material posted in the window of the National Anti-Suffrage Association headquarters, around 1911.

Why Some Women Campaigned Against The Vote For Women

Although it seems counter-intuitive now, some women had reasons for not wanting the vote

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