Current Events that Relate to History
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ComparisonHere Are the Declaration of Independence’s Grievances Against King George III. Many Apply to Trump.
It’s uncanny.Mother Jones -
ComparisonMasked Terror
ICE officers are wearing masks to conceal their identities. The Ku Klux Klan also employed masks to avoid prosecution for its acts of racial violence.Sherrilyn's Newsletter -
Museum ReviewBen Shahn, the Lefty Artist Who Was Left Behind
Shahn was an American phenomenon, but a new retrospective suggests that we’ve come to prize his politics over his accomplishments.The New Yorker -
First PersonGood Queers and Bad Queers
Myths are fed back as stereotypes and strawmen to divine some boundary for acceptability.Contingent -
Origin StoryThe Georgist Roots of American Libertarianism
How did libertarians come to embrace Henry George, a thinker championed by political coalitions ranging from early zionists to the global Green Party?Asterisk -
ObituaryHow Jimmy Swaggart Changed American Christianity
The disgraced televangelist built his career on an undeniable talent. His downfall contributed to a major shift in how Americans viewed religious leaders.The Bulwark -
exhibitDeclaring Independence
A collection of resources about the meanings of the 1776 document in its own time – and in ours.
From the HNN Archive
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How to Succeed in Government Without Really Trying
The long history of promising an “efficient” federal government. -
What Is the Role of the Historian?
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. -
Indifferent to the Fate of Freedom Elsewhere
Jimmy Carter is known for his defense of human rights worldwide. But in 1979, he threatened to deport thousands of Iranian student protesters. -
An Attempt to Defeat Constitutional Order
After the Civil War, conservatives used terrorism, cold-blooded murder, and economic coercion to fight the new state constitution in South Carolina. -
Whose Side Are College Administrators On?
There’s a long history of politicians targeting student protesters — and of campus leaders abetting those efforts. -
The Constitution Does Not Speak for Itself
In 1841, John Tyler said he was the president. The Constitution said he wasn’t. What happened next? -
“At Any Future Time”
In 1880, the daughter of a Welsh politician turned to fiction to expose perspectives missing from the official record, upending histories for generations to come. -
Letting the World Scream
In 1984, the U.S. rejected the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction, revealing its tendency to ignore international rules it sees as unfavorable — even when it helped write them. -
Scared Out of the Community
Between 1929 and 1939 approximately half a million Mexicans left the United States. Many of the departing families included American-born children to whom Mexico, not the United States, was the foreign land. -
When Good Housekeeping Meant Getting Vaccinated Against Polio
The pages of 1950s lifestyle magazines offer a glimpse of a time when childhood vaccines were anything but controversial.