Why President? How The U.S. Named Its Leader
Source: NPR
This radio piece covers the disagreement the Senate and House of Representatives had in 1789 about how to refer to the United States’ newly-elected leader.
History
Compromise of 1877
Source: HISTORY
The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended Reconstruction, handing control of the last Republican-held southern states back to the Democrats. Read about what led to the compromise and its effects.
There Is Nothing Accidental About School Segregation
Source: Slate
Reporter Jake Blumgart talks to Matt Delmont, author of Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation, about the history of segregation and desegregation of public schools.
Rare Walt Whitman letter, written for a dying soldier, found in National Archives
Source: The Washington Post
During the Civil War, poet Walt Whitman made a habit of visiting sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals. Read to find out how a volunteer at the National Archives recently discovered a letter written by the poet on behalf of a dying Union soldier.
Researchers say Anne Frank perished earlier than thought
Source: CNN
In 2015, researchers at the Anne Frank House took a close look at the end of Anne’s life at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. This article explains how they discovered that Anne died at least a month earlier than the date that had previously been determined.
Power from the people: Rural Electrification brought more than lights
Source: Smithsonian
Less than a century ago, most rural communities in the United States lacked electricity. View artifacts that capture the magnitude of change achieved by the Rural Electrification Administration starting in the 1930s.
Pioneering Social Reformer Jacob Riis Revealed “How The Other Half Lives” in America
Source: Smithsonian
Read how journalist Jacob Riis exposed the living conditions of lower-class people in New York City in the late 1800s. View the slide show to examine his photography.
Modern History Sourcebook: Harriet Robinson: Lowell Mill Girls
Source: Fordham University
Read this first-person account by a woman who worked in the Lowell, Massachusetts, textile mill in the 1830s and 1840s. She describes the role women played in society at the time and recounts one of the first strikes in U.S. history.
Music in conflict: 24 iconic images
Source: Classic FM
View the slideshow to examine images that show musicians providing moments of peace, even in the midst of extreme conflict.
The Pilgrims Should Have Been Thankful for a Spirochete
Source: Slate
Leptospirosis, a disease spread by rats that arrived in America on explorer’s ships, may have been what killed many of the original inhabitants and opened up the land.