“In March 2020, the Urban Art Mapping research team, a small group of faculty and students from the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was busy conducting interviews with community members of Midway, a bustling, diverse neighborhood. Located in the middle of a six-mile stretch betw

“With the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing civil unrest, historians, educators, and the general public once again fixated on the “long hot summers” of the 1960s. Where every year, for the latter half of the decade, America was embroiled in widespread violent protest. While this keystone

“In 1945, Jack Fisher of Kalamazoo, Michigan, celebrated a victory, one of the first of its kind in the United States. Jack, a disabled veteran and lawyer, was elated because his hometown had just installed the nation's first curb cuts to facilitate travel in the downtown area for wheelchair users

“In March 1943, Paul Bland was drafted into the military at the age of 19. He had experience in trucking and so was trained as an ambulance driver for the Army. He was then deployed to Europe in February of the following year to fight in World War II. Private First Class Paul Bland served in the 5

“A former laundress who became a millionaire from her hair-care company, Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919) was a leading philanthropist of the early 1900s. Because of her pioneering role in both business and philanthropy, she's featured in two museum exhibitions: American Enterprise and Giving in A

“I’m a Stonewall skeptic. I don’t doubt that it happened, but I question how it has been used over the years. Because this is a big anniversary year, there is a compulsion to heroize the people who were there and elevate the event. Those sweaty summer nights of rebellion were certainly import

““You know how you can tell the difference between a masked cop and a vigilante?” “No.” “Me neither.” This exchange between Laurie Blake, former costumed vigilante turned FBI agent, and Angela Abar, masked Tulsa police detective, lays out a conundrum at the heart of HBO’s 20

“"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics, recited this oath at the first Special Olympics International Summer Games, held in Chicago in 1968. In her opening ceremonies address, she emphasized that children with inte

“One of the most infamous tragedies in American manufacturing history is the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire of 1911. You may recall the story—how a blaze in a New York City sweatshop resulted in the fiery death of 146 people, mostly immigrant women in their teens and 20s. When workers found ex

“Like many other churches in the early republic, the Congregational meetinghouse in Castine, Maine, served both sacred and secular functions. Built in 1790, it was home not just to worship services but town meetings and judicial proceedings. Taxpayers paid its pastor’s wages. Though the ratifica