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History

Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker

How Archie Bunker Forever Changed in the American Sitcom

The return of ABC’s ‘Roseanne’ inspires a reevaluation of television’s history of portraying the working class

The King and Queen of Hearts wave from their parade float to crowds gathered for D.C. Capital Pride 2014. The next year, the Academy of Washington waved farewell after 54 years of service to the D.C. community.

These Newly Donated Artifacts Capture the Spirit of Washington, D.C. Drag

Mementos from the Academy of Washington drag organization add a valuable thread to the tapestry of American LGBTQ history

The names of 50 victims of the 1887 Thibodaux massacre in Louisiana are among those inscribed on the new memorial.

A New Memorial Remembers the Thousands of African-Americans Who Were Lynched

Next month’s opening of the monument in Alabama will be a necessary step in reckoning with America’s deadly past

Grizzly, a detection dog in training, is learning to sniff out stolen antiquities.

Dogs May Soon Be on the Front Lines in the Fight Against Artifact Smuggling

A project with the University of Pennsylvania is seeking a new tool in an important battle

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute archaeologist Ashley Sharpe contemplates the Ceibal site in Guatemala—one of the oldest Maya sites known.

Dogs Were Transported Across Great Distances for Ancient Maya Rituals

A new paper uses chemistry to shed light on the management of Maya animals

Malcolm Barrett as Rufus Carlin, left, with Joseph Lee Anderson as race car driver Wendell Scott

'Timeless' Recapped

“Timeless” Races Back to the ’50s in ‘Darlington’

The second episode of the season highlights an underappreciated NASCAR driver from the sport’s earliest days

Kewpies were the creative invention of illustrator Rose O'Neill.

Women Who Shaped History

The Prolific Illustrator Behind Kewpies Used Her Cartoons for Women’s Rights

Rose O’Neill started a fad and became a leader of a movement

Ahmad Shah (r. 1909–25) and his cabinet by Assadullah al-Husayni naqqash-bashi, 1910

In Persia’s Dynastic Portraiture, Bejeweled Thrones and Lavish Decor Message Authority

Paintings and 19th century photographs offer a rare window into the lives of the royal family

In a letter of 1770, Benjamin Franklin described tofu ("tau-fu") to his friend John Bartram as a sort of cheese made from "Chinese Garavances"—what we would call soybeans.

Ben Franklin May Be Responsible for Bringing Tofu to America

How a letter of 1770 may have ushered the Chinese staple into the New World

Dr. Frankenstein at work in his laboratory

What Frankenstein Can Still Teach Us 200 Years Later

An innovative annotated edition of the novel shows how the Mary Shelley classic has many lessons about the danger of unchecked innovation

The Proliferation of Happiness

A professor of consumer culture tracks the history of positive psychology

The progress of democracy seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history."--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man, by Jacques Nathan Garamond, 1955

How Do We Restore Trust in Our Democracies?

Museums can be a starting point, says David J. Skorton, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

'Cattle Kate' and Postmaster Averill, lynched. Stockmen a Sweetwater, Wyo., July 21, end the career of a lawless pair of depredators - swung from a cottonwood at the rope's end. Undated illustration.

Women Who Shaped History

The Tragedy of Cattle Kate

Newspapers reported that cowgirl Ella Watson was a no-good thief who deserved the vigilante killing that befell her, when in reality she was anything but

A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is lowered to a truck for removal Friday, May 19, 2017, from Lee Circle in New Orleans.

How I Learned About the “Cult of the Lost Cause”

The mayor of New Orleans offers his reading list for anyone looking to better understand the real history of Confederate monuments

Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston, Malcolm Barrett as Rufus Carlin, and Matt Lanter as Wyatt Logan travel to 1918 in the first episode of season two of "Timeless"

'Timeless' Recapped

Buckle Up, History Nerds — “Timeless” Is Back and As Usual, Gets the Facts Mostly Right

In a new editorial series, we recap the NBC show that puts a new twist on American history

Charles Syphax was among the slaves taken to George Washington Parke Custis’ plantation in Arlington, Virginia. He ran the dining room at the huge mansion known as Arlington House (above), which still stands on the grounds of the cemetery.

How the African-American Syphax Family Traces Its Lineage to Martha Washington

Resources at the African American History Museum deliver a wealth of opportunity for genealogical research

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