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

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

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

Members of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps pose on Minerva Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park in 1896.

The Black Buffalo Soldiers Who Biked Across the American West

<p>A wooden trestle bridge near Terrace, Utah. The state has more intact miles of original railroad grade than any other in the West.</p>

The Chinese Immigrants Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad

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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

At a time of widespread public health crises and evolving ideas about how illnesses spread, kissing was an easily avoidable vector of disease. Unfortunately for Imogene Rechtin, most people proved unwilling to give it up.

The Woman Who Fought to End the 'Pernicious' Scourge of Kissing

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Escape From the Gilded Cage