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History / U.S. History

Researcher Angela Walton-Raji has been studying African-Native genealogy for over 20 years. The Comanche family pictured here is from the early 1900s.

An Ancestry of African-Native Americans

Using government documents, author Angela Walton-Raji traced her ancestors to the slaves owned by American Indians

Abraham Lincoln ca. 1846, photographed in Springfield Illinois by N.H. Shepherd

Abraham Lincoln, True Crime Writer

While practicing law in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln defended a man in a highly unusual case and later recounted the mystery as a short story

Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati won snowboarding's first gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

The Top Ten Important Moments in Snowboarding History

Since its mid-1960s inception, snowboarding has seen such a boom in popularity that it is now an event at the Winter Olympics

A long-running theme of U.S. black history (a panel from Jacob Lawrence's 1940-41 "Migration Series") may have to be revised.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

The Changing Definition of African-American

How the great influx of people from Africa and the Caribbean since 1965 is challenging what it means to be African-American

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Novelties

In praise of contributors, including you

With the flip of a switch in 1910, Lee deForest ushered in an era of radio communications that would provide instant, long-distance wireless communication.

Radio Activity: The 100th Anniversary of Public Broadcasting

Since its inception, public radio has had a crucial role in broadcasting history - from FDR’s “Fireside Chats” to the Internet Age

Shaun White, Snowboarding

Top 13 U.S. Winter Olympians

These athletes took home gold, but also stole our hearts. Choose your favorite winter Olympian in our poll

The 1960 AFL Championship game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Oilers was typical of the high-risk, exciting brand of football the AFL was known for.

The American Football League’s Foolish Club

Succeeding where previous leagues had failed, the AFL introduced an exciting brand of football forcing the NFL to change its entrenched ways

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Meat and Potatoes

Of carnivores and herbivores

Britain's leaders made a miscalculation when they assumed that resistance from the colonies, as the Earl of Dartmouth predicted, could not be "very formidable."

Myths of the American Revolution

A noted historian debunks the conventional wisdom about America’s War of Independence

An 1868 surgery kit, part of Harvard's Warren Anatomical Museum.

Highlights From the Warren Anatomical Museum

The collections inside this museum hold intriguing objects that tell the story of 19th century American medicine

Re-enactors dressed as George Washington and his volunteer Continental Army cross the Delaware River.

George Washington’s Christmas Crossing

An annual holiday tradition since 1952, re-enactors bring Washington crossing the Delaware to life

James "Pat" Daugherty, 85, served in the Army's storied 92nd Infantry Division, which was made up almost entirely of African-Americans.

Memoirs of a World War II Buffalo Soldier

In a recently published memoir written over 60 years ago, veteran James Daugherty details his experiences as an African-American in combat

Phineas Staunton paid homage to his subject, Henry Clay, in an 11-by7-foot canvas.

The Rescue of Henry Clay

A long-lost painting of the Senate’s Great Compromiser finds a fitting new home in the halls of the U.S. Capitol

Starting in 1864, Arlington National Cemetery was transformed into a military cemetery.

How Arlington National Cemetery Came to Be

The fight over Robert E. Lee’s beloved home—seized by the U.S. government during the Civil War—went on for decades

Hugh Van Es spent much of the day on Saigon's streets but saw the line of evacuees from his office window.

A Photo-Journalist’s Remembrance of Vietnam

The death of Hugh Van Es, whose photograph captured the Vietnam War’s end, launched a “reunion” of those who covered the conflict

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Misperceptions

Closing in on 40 years

Flying With America’s Most Famous Female Aviators

Dozens of talented women preceded Amelia Earhart, and thousands have followed, and each has her own groundbreaking story to tell

Robert M. Poole has written for National Geographic, Preservation, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Smithsonian.

Robert M. Poole on “The Battle of Arlington”

Controversy over Meriwether Lewis' death has descendants and scholars campaigning to exhume his body at his grave site in Tennessee.

Meriwether Lewis’ Mysterious Death

Two hundred years later, debate continues over whether the famous explorer committed suicide or was murdered

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