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Featured Articles

Ike's Excellent Adventure
by Bruce Watson

What the future president learned during a coast-to-coast military motor expedition would later transform America. 

In Memoriam: Sergei Khrushchev, 1935-2020
by Chase Brush

Half of what we know today about the leadership of the Soviet Union and the mindset of the Cold War era is due to the son of Nikita Khrushchev. 

15 Classic Books About Black History
by Gerald Early

From The Souls of Black Folk to The New Jim Crow, these texts are essential for anyone trying to understand the black experience in America. 

Librarians at War
by Kathy Peiss

The origins of today’s vast intelligence apparatus can be traced in part to the forgotten efforts of librarians and archivists to gather information during World War II

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History around the web

How a Lincoln-Douglass Debate Led to Historic Discovery, by Ted Mann Texting exchange by two professors led to Frederick Douglass letter on Emancipation Memorial
In 'Hamilton', Angelica Schuyler's husband is called 'not a lot of fun.' Here's his real story, by Daryl Austin While the play's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, has delivered Hamilton his long-overdue public acclaim, many other historical figures are overlooked or represented in a less-than-flattering manner throughout the production.
How America’s Founding Fathers Missed a Chance to Abolish Slavery, by Michael Hirsh They swept the issue under the rug, and even Thomas Jefferson realized that civil war was inevitable before he died on July 4, 1826. But history could have taken a different direction.
The Dr. Strange of the American Revolution, by Brian Gallagher Benjamin Rush was a strange, or a strangely gifted, man, and one of the youngest—at 30—to sign the Declaration of Independence.
What is Juneteenth? The history behind the oldest commemoration of the abolishment of slavery in the US, by Lucia Suarez Sang Black Americans began to celebrate Juneteenth in honor of when Texas - the last rebel state - officially abolished slavery.
Cathartic acts of rage, or the rewriting of history? How statues became political lightning rods, by Tim Lister The soul-searching about race prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has extended into how the history of racial persecution and prejudice is remembered.
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    Today in History

  • Scopes Monkey trial begins

    The Scopes Trial begins in Dayton, Tennessee, as high school science teacher John Scopes is tried for teaching evolution to his students, violating the Butler Act. Best known as the "Scopes Monkey Trial" it became a national trial between over evolution argued by two high-profile attorneys: William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution, and Clarence Darrow for the defense.

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  • Wyoming enters the Union

    Wyoming enters the Union as the 44th state. Nicknamed the "Equality State," Wyoming became the first American state or territory to guarantee women the right to vote in 1869, 21 years before statehood.

  • Operation Husky begins

    Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, begins with an airborne assault on Italian and German positions, followed by a massive amphibious invasion. In an effort to attack the underbelly of Axis-controlled Europe, British and American forces misled the Axis command by feigning an attack on Sardinia and Greece. 

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