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History / U.S. History

Chinese immigrants and gold miners mingle on a main street in San Francisco in 1849.

Gold Rush California Was Much More Expensive Than Today’s Tech-Boom California

Back in 1849, a dozen eggs would cost you the equivalent of $90

A statue of Junipero Serra, Catholicism's newest saint, stands in front of San Gabriel Arcángel, the California mission he founded in 1771.

Why Are Native Groups Protesting Catholicism’s Newest Saint?

Nearly 250 years after Junipero Serra founded California’s first missions, questions linger about his legacy

A 19th-century illustration published by Alphonse Milne-Edwards.

How America Fell in Love With the Giant Panda

A French missionary, Teddy Roosevelt’s sons, and a widowed socialite all factor into the tale of how the nation fell in love with the rare beast

Alice Roosevelt and Nicholas Longworth disembark in Manila

Global Diplomacy Was in Theodore Roosevelt’s Hands, But His Daughter Stole the Show

Alice Roosevelt’s 1905 journey to Japan, Korea and China is documented in rare photographs held by the Freer and Sackler Galleries

Martha McDonald performs in the 2014 work The Lost Garden at The Woodlands in Philadelphia.

What Artist Martha McDonald Might Teach Us About a Nation Divided

This fall, a one-woman show staged in one of Washington, D.C.’s most historic buildings will recall the sorrow of the Civil War

The Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company premiers its newest work, "We choose to go to the moon," at the Kennedy Center on September 19 and 20, 2015.

A Dancer and a Scientist Deliver a New Take on the Moon Walk

When modern dance collides with science and space history, the result can be a great leap forward

A suggestion to change our vocabulary when we talk about American History

A Proposal to Change the Words We Use When Talking About the Civil War

Historian Michael Landis writes that vocabulary like “compromise” or “Union” shape how we view our past

Charles Lindbergh was the innovator and designer of the perfusion pump.

The Innovative Spirit

To Save His Dying Sister-In-Law, Charles Lindbergh Invented a Medical Device

The famous aviator’s biography is incomplete without the story of how the aviator worked to perfect his glass-chambered perfusion pump

Mills and smokestacks in Lowell, Massachusetts, considered by some historians to be the first real company town in the U.S.

America’s Company Towns, Then and Now

A look at these small towns across the United States shows the good, the bad and the ugly of the industrial boom

Obama’s move to rename the U.S.'s highest peak was supported by Native and non-Native Alaskans alike.

Commentary

Denali and America’s Long History of Using (or Not Using) Indian Names

In restoring the Athabaskan name to the country’s highest mountain, President Obama is among those who have wrestled with the issue

American South

The Oldest City in the United States

St. Augustine, Florida, was the first city founded by European settlers in North America

Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi, for allegedly flirting with a white woman.

Breaking Ground

Emmett Till’s Open Casket Funeral Reignited the Civil Rights Movement

Mamie Till Mobley’s decision for her slain son’s ceremony was a major moment in Civil Rights history.

Take a Historic Ride Along California’s Famous Route 1

Here are seven of the most interesting historic stops along California’s scenic highway

"Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter." A soldier finds his final resting place, July 1863.

Why Can’t We Turn Our Eyes Away From the Grotesque and Macabre?

Alexander Gardner’s photographs of Civil War corpses were among the first to play to the uncomfortable attraction humans have for shocking images

Don Herbert was "Mr. Wizard," an educator who loved spectacle as much as he loved science.

Meet Mr. Wizard, Television’s Original Science Guy

In the 1950s and 1960s, Don Herbert broadcast some of the most mesmerizing, and kooky, science experiments from his garage

On August 29, 1985, Michael Drummond became the sixth person, and the youngest, to be implanted with an artificial heart.

The Innovative Spirit

Thirty Years Ago, an Artificial Heart Helped Save a Grocery Store Manager

The Smithsonian, home to the Jarvik 7 and a host of modern chest-pumping technologies, has a lot of (artificial) heart

Chicago schoolkids pledge allegiance in 1963.

How the Pledge of Allegiance Went From PR Gimmick to Patriotic Vow

Francis Bellamy had no idea how famous, and controversial, his quick ditty would become

The Broken Promise of the Levees That Failed New Orleans

A piece of concrete serves as a reminder of how Hurricane Katrina shattered a city’s faith

The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South

A naturalist cuts through the myths surrounding the invasive plant

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