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To Dismantle the Concept of Separate but Equal, Thurgood Marshall Methodically Devised a Winning Strategy: Divide and Conquer

While other activists aimed to take down Jim Crow in one fell swoop, the future Supreme Court justice compiled a series of wins that ultimately added up to an undeniable resolution

Mickey Mantle appears on Topps card number 311 (1952), sometimes called the Holy Grail for baseball card collectors. In 2022, one in mint condition sold for $12.6 million, a record.

In 1952, You Could Buy a Pack of Baseball Cards That Included This Mickey Mantle at a Corner Store. Today, You Would Probably Have to Go to an Auction House

The rookie card of the future Yankees legend once sold for pennies. But, even with garish colorization, it became a treasured symbol of the golden age of the sport that is now valued in the millions

A pair of African wild dogs at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the largest privately owned nature reserve in South Africa, near the Botswana border.

Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

Meet the team that closely monitors the playful canines, which need help to form diverse packs and stop their numbers from dwindling

How did Europeans build enormous, complex cathedrals before they had complex mathematics? 

How Did Medieval Builders Construct Complex Cathedrals Before Advanced Mathematics? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Diego Rivera’s private collection of pre-Columbian art at the Anahuacalli Museum, which expanded and reopened in 2021.

Stunning Antiquities and Frida Kahlo’s Home Are Just Some of the Offerings That Have Bolstered Mexico City’s Fantastic Array of Museums

The ancient capital has plenty of artwork and fossils, if that’s what you like. Or tour the writing rooms of a Nobel winner, the fortified home of an exiled Russian revolutionary and towers of skulls

The Smithsonian holds a nugget, above, thought to have been discovered by James Marshall in 1848.

When a Carpenter in California Found a Nugget of Gold, It Started a Rush Toward Nothing Less Than the Modern World

A new book by historian Nathaniel Philbrick makes the case that James Marshall’s 1848 discovery set in motion events from the Civil War to the rise of Silicon Valley

The indomitable Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995). The film made history as the first feature-length, 3D-rendered film produced entirely with computer animation.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Five Advances That Helped Turn a Night Out at the Movies Into the All-Enveloping Experience It Has Become

The power of film is often in its ability to feel larger than life. Movie makers have been developing ways to accentuate that aspect for more than a century

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Every Generation of Teenagers Redefines Pop Culture Through Its Favorite Music, Fads, Movies and Trends

When new government policies allowed kids more time to grown up, the teenager was born. And every decade or so, they’ve changed the ways they entertain themselves … and everyone else

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Cellphones Were Created to Untether Us. Then They Got Smart and Evolved Into an Omnipotent Appendage

One device made it possible to hold a telephone, a watch, a calculator, the mailbox, credit cards, a meteorologist, a television, a detailed map of the globe, millions of songs and books … all in one hand.

Jerry Lawson’s gaming system featured interchangeable cartridges, so users could swap out titles like “Space War” and “Math Quiz.”

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

This Unsung Black Developer Unlocked the Code to Turning a Video Game Console Into a Virtual Living Room Arcade

Jerry Lawson’s Channel F system was the first to put games on interchangeable cartridges, paving the way for Atari, Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

The Astounding True Story of America’s Comic Book Creators, From ‘The Yellow Kid’ to Superman to Webcomics

A groundbreaking cartoonist paired images with a running narrative in 1896 to create the first comic strip. They’ve mutated into books, blockbuster movies and Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novels

Iconic soap characters: Susan Lucci’s Erica Kane of All My Children; Eric Braeden’s Victor Newman of The Young and the Restless; and Tamara  Tunie’s Jessica Griffin Harris of As the World Turns. Tunie now stars in CBS’ Beyond the Gates. 

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

The Queen of Soap Operas Started Off By Telling Stories About the Drama She Was Missing in Her Own Life

Irna Phillips was a radio voice actor in Chicago when she was asked to create a serialized program. From that, she created a legacy that includes ‘Guiding Light’ and ‘As the World Turns’

Wrigley Field was the last Major League Baseball stadium to install lights: The Cubs first played under them on August 8, 1988, versus the Philadelphia Phillies. Photographer Ronald C. Modra captured the scene from a helicopter.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

With a Few Tweaks, the Country’s Favorite Sports Went From Pastimes to Part of the Fabric of Our Culture

Can you imagine a football game where there was never a passing play? The forward pass is just one of the innovations that made these contests into events

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When Clarence Birdseye Tasted the Trout That Had Been Frozen by Inuit Fishermen, It Changed the Way We Buy Food

The inventive entrepreneur concluded that the faster things were frozen, the less damage was done to the structure of the food. Once thawed, they were “exactly like fresh”

Lightning strikes in Peckham, Oklahoma.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When a Team of Meteorologists and Combat Pilots Set Out to Understand Thunderstorms, They Made Flying Safer for Everyone

The sky was a very dangerous place in the early days of commercial aviation. By flying into storms to learn how they worked, these experts made air travel and weather forecasting much more predictable

Clive Campbell in 1980. “Hip-hop is both an American immigrant story and a global story,” he later said. “It belongs to everybody.”

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

They Were Just Having a Back-to-School Party in an Apartment Rec Room. Little Did They Know They Were Creating Hip-Hop

The music genre that became a global sensation started with some creative teens just getting together and riffing rhymes to DJ Kool Herc’s curated beats

Michael Twitty’s technique for preparing okra soup evokes West African cooking traditions. His recipe includes a broth—either chicken or beef—that takes about an hour or two to create. Onions, garlic, tomatoes and other vegetables, and herbs such as thyme and sage add flavor. It is garnished with parsley.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

There Was No American Regional Cuisine Until One ‘Virginia Housewife’ Thought to Compile a Diverse Collection of Recipes

Mary Randolph, an in-law of the Jefferson family who was influenced by enslaved cooks and traditions of European immigrants, didn’t change Southern cooking with her 1824 cookbook … she originated it

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

How the Hashtag Became the Way to Instantly Invite Literally Everyone Into the Conversation

In the nascent days of Twitter, users wanted a quick way to cluster posts about a single subject. Someone suggested using a pound sign, and #TheRestIsHistory

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

A Moment of Divine Inspiration Helped Melvil Dewey Bring Obsessive Order to the Infinitely Disorganized Stacks in the Library

The Massachusetts student let his mind wander during a Sunday sermon and created the decimal-based system that greatly simplified the search for any book you were looking for.

American journalist, lecturer and political philosopher Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936), in Union Square, New York City, April 1914.

When a Journalist Took on Corruption, He Used a Tool That Hadn’t Been Used Much in American History: the Unvarnished Truth

Lincoln Steffens was a reporter so dogged that political party bosses called him a “born crook that’s gone straight.” He and his fellow muckrakers redefined modern journalism

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