Considering History: What the Ratification Debates Reveal about the Constitution and America
The Constitution’s ratification process reveals much about our fragile American ideals.
The Constitution’s ratification process reveals much about our fragile American ideals.
In 1970, activist Wamsutta James was forbidden from giving a fiery speech that reframed Thanksgiving from the Native American perspective. He gave it anyway and launched a movement that advocated a different point of view for this holiday.
Voting is a profoundly significant right, as illustrated by the long, often painful, always inspiring history of Americans who have worked to extend that right to all of us.
This Halloween, reading some of the foundational American scary stories can help us shiver along with the spookiest sides of society and self alike.
Thrown out of Germany for writing about Hitler, journalist Dorothy Thompson went on to warn Americans about fascism in their own backyard.
The stories of Black railroad workers embody both the possibilities and the limits of the American Dream.
If we link the history of slavery to the labor movement, we can better understand the true interconnectedness of all Americans in the process.
The idea that “people in their own times” were fundamentally different from those in our own is an inaccurate view of the past. Take the case of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Banneker.
The meaning of religious liberty remains contested, part of the longstanding but evolving battle between exclusionary and inclusive visions of our community.
The Supreme Court has intervened on a number of occasions to help determine the very meaning of the 14th Amendment, controversial and influential rulings that echo down into this year’s controversial Court decisions.
America has just commemorated another Fourth of July; it’s more important than ever that we engage the contradiction of both celebrating and being critical of our nation.
For this year’s Juneteenth commemorations, a new documentary and a just-published book on the life and legacy of Rosa Parks together exemplify that goal of finding inspiration in our most painful histories.
Pride Month is a time to better understand the experiences and identities of LBGTQ Americans. One of the most inspiring such Americans, in her life and her literature alike, was the groundbreaking author Gertrude Stein.
In trying to impose a European American identity on Native American children, the U.S. created a system of cultural genocide targeting all Native Americans.
Fred Korematsu was the young man who gave his name to the Supreme Court decision that upheld incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as constitutional. Yet Korematsu’s battle, influence, and legacy go far beyond that loss.
Longfellow’s poem is entertaining in its own right, but it can also serve as a starting point for a more full, accurate, and ultimately inspiring understanding of history.