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.
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.
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.
View the slideshow to examine images that show musicians providing moments of peace, even in the midst of extreme conflict.
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.
Harriet Tubman funded her trips in part by cooking, and during the journeys she acted as provider to the slaves she helped escape.
Public Radio International gives some background to the United States’ separation of men’s and women’s bathrooms.
Immaculee Ilibagiza is a Rwandan woman who survived genocide in 1994 by hiding with seven other women in her neighbor’s small bathroom for three months. Read to learn more about her terrifying experience and the hardships she endured.
Learn about the powerful impact of Hurricane Katrina, from how it formed to how it changed our approach to disaster preparation.
Mathematician, engineer, physicist, and inventor Ayrton received recognition for her first invention at a British exhibition, and many more inventions followed. Read about her work on ripples and the electric arc and her award for making her ideas heard.
