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History

Truman committed the Democrats to civil rights. After the party splintered, Strom Thurmond ran as the candidate of the States’ Rights Party.

1948 Democratic Convention

The South Secedes Again

Theodore Roosevelt giving a campaign speech.

1912 Republican Convention

Return of the Rough Rider

Red, white and bruising: at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, conflicts within the hall were amplified in violence on Chicago’s streets.

Parties to History

Four Political Conventions That Changed America

Buck's Row, site of the murder of Mary Ann Nichols

August Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

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Stouthearted Men

Brutal, yes, but also strong-willed

The Sea Stallion from Glendalough

Raiders or Traders?

A replica Viking vessel sailing the North Sea has helped archaeologists figure out what the stalwart Norsemen were really up to

Quebec city's Parliament building, the site of the Place de l'Assembée-Nationale.

Let Me Be Franc

A Look Back for Quebec City’s 400th

Carleton Watkins stereograph of El Capitan in Yosemite

About Carleton Watkins

On the life and career of the 19th-century American landscape photographer who captured Yosemite in stereo

View of Beirut, Lebanon, with palm and pine trees in the foreground

Times of Trouble

Flashpoints in Modern Lebanese History

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Showing Their Age

Dating the Fossils and Artifacts that Mark the Great Human Migration

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Were “Hobbits” Human?

Debate rages over an Indonesian fossil find

Christopher Henshilwood (in Blombos Cave) dug at one of the most important early human sites partly out of proximity—it’s on his grandfather’s property.

The Great Human Migration

Why humans left their African homeland 80,000 years ago to colonize the world

“Everybody needs beauty... places to play and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike,” wrote Muir (c. 1902).

John Muir’s Yosemite

The father of the conservation movement found his calling on a visit to the California wilderness

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July Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

French and Indian War: "The Night Council at Fort Necessity." Ilustration

The First “Teflon” Hero

What July 4th, 1754 reveals about George Washington’s survival skills

Katrina Browne and a Ghanaian child on the ramparts of Cape Coast Castle slave fort.

A Northern Family Confronts Its Slaveholding Past

Filmmaker Katrina Browne discusses her family’s role in American slavery

A Mormon encampment in Provo, 1858

The Brink of War

One hundred fifty years ago, the U.S. Army marched into Utah prepared to battle Brigham Young and his Mormon militia

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June Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

On her final day as first lady, Betty Ford told Kennerly her idea for the Cabinet Room table.

Betty Ford’s Tabled Resolution

Betty Ford had a what-the-hell moment—and an accomplice in photographer David Hume Kennerly

Babe Ruth, the star of Headin’ Home (1920)

Crowd Pleasers

Too good to be true?

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