Menu
Category

Identity

On the self and its many communities.
Person in a red veil.

Connecting with Trans History, Rebellion, and Joy, in “Compton’s 22”

Transgender people's reactions to watching oral histories of the legacy of a 1966 riot in the Tenderloin that was nearly lost to history.
by Drew de Pinto via The New Yorker
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on June 5, 2024
Harriet Tubman with family at her home in Auburn, NY circa 1885.

The Rescuer

In search of the Underground Railroad’s legendary conductor.
by Danielle Amir Jackson via The American Scholar on June 3, 2024
A collage of George Eyser, St. Louis imagery, and Olympic medals.

A Forgotten Turner Classic

Who was George Eyser, the one-legged German-American gymnast who astounded at the Olympic Games?
by Joshua Prager via The American Scholar on June 3, 2024
Photo collage of faces and charts.

How ‘Diversity’ Became the Master Concept of Our Age

Across the ideological spectrum, it’s become a bedrock value. What does it mean?
by Nicolas Langlitz via The Chronicle of Higher Education
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on May 7, 2024
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar slam dunking basketball

How Lew Alcindor Became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The early years of a future basketball icon.
by Scott Howard-Cooper via Literary Hub on March 18, 2024
Bayard Rustin addressing a crowd in New York City in 1965. (Library of Congress/Interim Archives/Getty Images)

The Lasting Legacy of Bayard Rustin

Why does the influential African-American organizer and strategist continue to speak to us, three and a half decades after his death?
by Michael Weinman via New Lines on February 29, 2024
The Object of History
Podcast
The Object of History

"Holding the Atlantic World In His Mouth": George Washington and the Culture of Teeth

The Massachusetts Historical Society has a portrait of George Washington in which he does not resemble the familiar face on the one-dollar bill. How this might this be related to President Washington's longtime struggle with his dental health and the cultural significance of teeth in the 18th century?
November 15, 2023
emorial to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Washington, D.C. / Scott J. Ferrell / Congressional Quarterly / Getty Images

100 Years Since FDR Contracted Polio

It has been a century since the onset of the president’s paralyzing illness. What if he had been more forthcoming about it?
by Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird via New Lines on January 5, 2022
Picture of Barack Obama and W.E.B Du Bois.

A Prophet and a President

Why black biography matters.
by David Levering Lewis via The American Scholar on October 21, 2021
Ho Chi Minh, 1921
partner

The First Vietnamese in America

Before 1945, many Vietnamese migrants to the United States were laborers. One was Ho Chi Minh.
by Matthew Wills, Charles Keith via JSTOR Daily on January 18, 2021
Judah P. Benjamin statue torn off its pedestal.

The Counterlife of Judah P. Benjamin

Enigmatic, bigoted, prominent figure of the Confederacy—and one of the highest-ranking Jew in the history of American government. What do we do with him now?
by Michael Hoberman via Tablet on August 11, 2020
Illustration of Jo and Beth from the 1869 edition of "Little Women."

On Reading Little Women and Wanting to Be Like Jo March

Looking to Louisa May Alcott's heroine for inspiration.
by Jenny Zhang via Literary Hub on August 23, 2019
Trump greeting supporters.

White Tribe Rising

What accounts for white tribalism?
by James McWilliams via The Hedgehog Review on June 21, 2018

How Do We Explain This National Tragedy? This Trump?

On 400 years of tribalism, genocide, expulsion, and imprisonment.
by T. J. Stiles via Literary Hub on January 31, 2018
Chart of the names given to generations at different times.

Your Generational Identity Is a Lie

You are not Gen X. You are not a Millennial. Unless you are a Baby Boomer, you are nothing.
by Philip Bump via Washington Post
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on April 1, 2015
An African American man and a white soldier from the 23rd New York.
partner

Fighting for Union

One man’s struggle to pick a side of the war, his ultimate choice, and how powerful the of concepts “liberty and union” were in motivating Northern soldiers.
via BackStory on March 31, 2011
James Baldwin

The Making and Unmaking of James Baldwin

On the private and public lives of the author of “The Fire Next Time” and “Giovanni’s Room.”
by Hilton Als via The New Yorker
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on February 9, 1998
brought to you by
© Bunk History