American History

Why Do Astronauts on the International Space Station Float and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

A bowl done in a style first seen around A.D. 1100 has “acid blooms” on its interior—imperfections suggesting that someone used modern soaps to clean the bowl up, possibly to fetch a higher price on the black market.

An Exclusive Look at the Greatest Haul of Native American Artifacts, Ever

In a warehouse in Utah, federal agents are storing tens of thousands of looted objects recovered in a massive sting

A coffle of slaves being marched from Virginia west into Tennessee, c. 1850.

Retracing Slavery's Trail of Tears

America's forgotten migration – the journeys of a million African-Americans from the tobacco South to the cotton South

Thirty Years Later, We Still Don't Truly Know Who Betrayed These Spies

Was there a fourth mole in the U.S. intelligence system that blew these secret agents' covers?

The pivotal accuser at the trials, Tituba, would go down in history as a purveyor of satanic magic. An 1880s engraving depicts her in the act of terrifying children.

Unraveling the Many Mysteries of Tituba, the Star Witness of the Salem Witch Trials

No one really knows the true motives of the character central to one of America's greatest secrets

A newspaper report of Leoti Blaker, who stabbed a man with a hatpin when he would not leave her alone.

American Women in the 1900s Called Street Harassers 'Mashers' and Stabbed Them With Hatpins

These are the turn-of-the-century women who fought back when men tried to grab them

Chinese immigrants and gold miners mingle on a main street in San Francisco in 1849.

Gold Rush California Was Much More Expensive Than Today’s Tech-Boom California

Back in 1849, a dozen eggs would cost you the equivalent of $90

A statue of Junipero Serra, Catholicism's newest saint, stands in front of San Gabriel Arcángel, the California mission he founded in 1771.

Why Are Native Groups Protesting Catholicism's Newest Saint?

Nearly 250 years after Junipero Serra founded California's first missions, questions linger about his legacy

A 19th-century illustration published by Alphonse Milne-Edwards.

How America Fell in Love With the Giant Panda

A French missionary, Teddy Roosevelt’s sons, and a widowed socialite all factor into the tale of how the nation fell in love with the rare beast

A suggestion to change our vocabulary when we talk about American History

A Proposal to Change the Words We Use When Talking About the Civil War

Historian Michael Landis writes that vocabulary like “compromise” or “Union” shape how we view our past

Mills and smokestacks in Lowell, Massachusetts, considered by some historians to be the first real company town in the U.S.

America’s Company Towns, Then and Now

A look at these small towns across the United States shows the good, the bad and the ugly of the industrial boom

Six American States Have Official Guns

Rifles and handguns represent some states alongside official flowers, snacks and birds.

The Oldest City in the United States

St. Augustine, Florida, was the first city founded by European settlers in North America

Chicago schoolkids pledge allegiance in 1963.

How the Pledge of Allegiance Went From PR Gimmick to Patriotic Vow

Francis Bellamy had no idea how famous, and controversial, his quick ditty would become

The Broken Promise of the Levees That Failed New Orleans

A piece of concrete serves as a reminder of how Hurricane Katrina shattered a city's faith

Schuylkill County Deputy Coroner Joe Pothering points to human bones in embankment along Route 61 in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania August 14, 2015. Forensic archaeologists on Friday began excavating a highway embankment in eastern Pennsylvania, looking for more bones believed to be from impoverished victims of the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.

Human Bones Found Near Pennsylvania Highway Could Be From the 1918 Flu

Roadside construction reveals mass gravesite

The motor convoy departed D.C. on July 7, 1919.

How a Hellish Road Trip Revolutionized American Highways

Quicksand, food rationing, and embarrassment may have prompted Ike to push for a better highway system

Jobs holds up an iPhone 4 at a tech conference in 2010.

Steve Jobs is About to Get His Own Opera

But will it include a singing Woz?

Aldrin was became the second human to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

Astronauts Fill Out Customs Forms, Too

Read Buzz Aldrin's expense report and customs form from his Apollo 11 mission to the moon

Workers prepare the Fat Man, the implosion bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki in August 1945.

How Physics Drove the Design of the Atomic Bombs Dropped on Japan

The gun-like design of the Little Boy bomb was effectively the last of its kind

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