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Articles

Featuring the musical and comedic talents of African-American performers for decades, the landmark Harlem theater transformed popular entertainment.

Show Time at the Apollo

A stellar roster of African-American singers, dancers and comedians got their start at the venue, celebrating its 75-year history

"Paionian—which was spoken in Illyria (or possibly Thrace) some 2,2000 years ago—is one of many languages that have survived only as fragments."

Fluent in 60 Seconds

Learning a new language is a breeze—as long as it’s Paionian

Maurice Hines, left, joins his brother Gregory (now deceased) in the finale of the smash hit 1981 Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies.

Maurice Hines on the Legacy of the Apollo Theater

The legendary dancer talks about starting his career in Harlem and his upcoming Sammy Davis Jr. project

John F. Kennedy, with cane in the Pacific, 1943, would later downplay his PT-109 role: "It was involuntary," he quipped. "They sank my boat."

Remembering PT-109

A carved walking stick evokes ship commander John F. Kennedy’s dramatic rescue at sea

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Reconsiderations

Botched battles and preconceptions overturned

On the day of the battle, 6,000 to 7,000 Indians were camped on the flats beside the Little Bighorn River.

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

Zygmunt Aksienow rescued a caged canary as a "sign of the normal life I was used to."

Capturing Warsaw at the Dawn of World War II

As German bombs began falling on Poland in 1939, an American photographer made a fateful decision

Richard Crowninshield bludgeoned 82-year-old Capt. Joseph White while the former slave trader and shipmaster slept.

A Murder in Salem

In 1830, a brutal crime in Massachusetts riveted the nation—and inspired the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne

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November Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

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A Cultural History of Candy

“The Candy Professor” talks about America’s historic relationship with sweets

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