Special Report

Untold Stories of American History

Explore the lives of little-known changemakers who left their mark on the country

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Illustration by Meilan Solly / Photos via Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The American Yawp Vol. II: Since 1877, Getty Images

The Little-Known Story of the Women Who Stood Up to General Motors and Demanded Equal Pay

In 1964, when a journalist asked Howard crew coach Stuart Law about the team’s last-place finishes, he just smiled and said, “We’re getting better all the time.”

The Barrier-Breaking Rowers of America's First All-Black Crew Team

The so-called frogmen swam into enemy beaches unarmed, wearing only swim trunks, dive masks and fins.

The Stealth Swimmers Whose WWII Scouting Laid the Groundwork for the Navy SEALs

The men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops created elaborate illusions featuring inflatable tanks, jeeps and artillery.

How the Ghost Army of WWII Used Art to Deceive the Nazis

Paula, Sam and Sol Messinger aboard the M.S. <em>St. Louis</em> in May 1939. The U.S. denied the ship entry, forcing its 937 passengers to return to Europe. More than a quarter of these refugees were later killed in the Holocaust.

Why Was America So Reluctant to Take Action on the Holocaust?

An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region of California on October 9, 2017.

The History of California's Inmate Firefighter Program

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American ambassador Joseph C. Grew (left) meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda (right) in October 1941, two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The American Ambassador Who Tried to Prevent Pearl Harbor

Paula, Sam and Sol Messinger aboard the M.S. St. Louis in May 1939. The U.S. denied the ship entry, forcing its 937 passengers to return to Europe. More than a quarter of these refugees were later killed in the Holocaust.

Why Was America So Reluctant to Take Action on the Holocaust?

Jeanne Dorin McDowell

An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region of California on October 9, 2017.

The History of California's Inmate Firefighter Program

Francine Uenuma

A monument of civil rights pioneer Elizabeth Freeman in Sheffield, Massachusetts

How an Enslaved Woman Took Her Freedom to Court

The so-called frogmen swam into enemy beaches unarmed, wearing only swim trunks, dive masks and fins.

The Stealth Swimmers Whose WWII Scouting Laid the Groundwork for the Navy SEALs

In 1964, when a journalist asked Howard crew coach Stuart Law about the team’s last-place finishes, he just smiled and said, “We’re getting better all the time.”

The Barrier-Breaking Rowers of America's First All-Black Crew Team

By March 1862, Judith Henry's Virginia home had been reduced to rubble.

The Civil War's First Civilian Casualty Was an Elderly Widow From Virginia

Kellie B. Gormly

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The Southbound Underground Railroad Brought Thousands of Enslaved Americans to Mexico

By Richard Grant
Photographs by Scott Dalton