Modern Historic Eras: United States
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The Cherokees vs. Andrew Jackson
John Ross and Major Ridge tried diplomatic and legal strategies to maintain autonomy, but the new president had other plans
March 2011 |
By Brian Hicks
A Yuletide Gift of Kindness
Seventy-five years later, Ted Gup learns the astonishing secret about his grandfather's generosity during the Great Depression
December 2010 |
By Ted Gup
How the Battle of Little Bighorn Was Won
Accounts of the 1876 battle have focused on Custer's ill-fated cavalry. But a new book offers a take from the Indian's point of view
November 2010 |
By Thomas Powers
Wayne B. Wheeler: The Man Who Turned Off the Taps
Prohibition couldn't have happened without Wheeler, who foisted temperance on a thirsty nation 90 years ago
May 2010 |
By Daniel Okrent
An Ancestry of African-Native Americans
Using government documents, author Angela Walton-Raji traced her ancestors to the slaves owned by American Indians
February 17, 2010 |
By Katy June-Friesen
Ben Franklin: Patriot, Foodie
American patriot Benjamin Franklin was a fan of food and helped France change their opinion on potatoes
July 02, 2009 |
By Smithsonian.com
1934: The Art of the New Deal
An exhibition of Depression-era paintings by federally-funded artists provides a hopeful view of life during economic travails
June 2009 |
By Jerry Adler
What’s the Deal about New Deal Art?
As the first of the New Deal acts that funded public art projects with federal money, the PWAP produced more than 15,000 works of art in just six months
May 19, 2009 |
By David A. Taylor
Carving Out the West at the Great Smoke Conference
In 1851, American Indian tribes gathered to seek protection of their western lands from frontiersman on the Oregon Trail
April 02, 2009 |
By Paul VanDevelder
Eudora Welty as Photographer
Photographs by Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Eudora Welty display the empathy that would later infuse her fiction
April 2009 |
By T.A. Frail
Solving a 17th-Century Crime
Forensic anthropologists at the National Museum of Natural History find answers to a colonial cold case
March 2009 |
By Joseph Caputo
Endangered Site: Historic Route 66, U.S.A.
The 2,400 mile highway was eclipsed by interstate highways that bypassed neon signs of roadside diners
March 2009 |
By Megan Gambino
The Inventor of Air
Known for discovering oxygen, scientist Joseph Priestly also influenced the beliefs of our founding fathers.
February 09, 2009 |
By Bruce Hathaway
Sarah Vowell on the Puritans' Legacy
The author and 'This American Life' correspondent talks about her book on the colonies' early religious leaders
November 04, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
Revolutionary Real Estate
Statesmen, soldiers and spies who made America and the way they lived
December 2007 |
By Hugh Howard
Beyond Jamestown
After the colony was founded, 400 years ago this month, Capt. John Smith set out to explore the riches of Chesapeake Bay. With Smith's journals to guide him, a modern-day sailor retraces that historic voyage
May 2007 |
By Terence Smith
Lost City of Powhatan
The Algonquian settlement crucial to the survival of Jamestown 400 years ago has been found. Finally
April 2007 |
By Andrew Lawler
Pilgrims' Progress
We retrace the travels of the ragtag group that founded Plymouth Colony and gave us Thanksgiving
November 2006 |
By Simon Worrall
Spain Makes a Stand
After more than 400 years, a fort built by conquistadors in the Carolinas has finally been found
March 2006 |
By Andrew Lawler
Native Intelligence
The Indians who first feasted with the English colonists were far more sophisticated than you were taught in school. But that wasn't enough to save them
December 2005 |
By Charles C. Mann
