USA

The Fisk Jubilee Singers, photograph by James Wallace Black, 1872. National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Public Domain.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers Across the Atlantic

In 1874 a choir of African American singers concluded a successful tour of Britain, singing songs that confronted American racism. Victorian audiences had never heard music like it.

Dwight D. Eisenhower campaigning in Lubbock, Texas, 1952. Bettmann/Getty Images.

How the South Became Republican

America’s southern states were once strongholds for the Democratic Party. In 1952, Eisenhower decided to win them over.

Beatrice Snipes with her baby, 1933. Courtesy of Richland Library, Columbia, South Carolina.

Putting Mothers on Death Row

US law requires a stay of execution for pregnant women on death row. In practice, however, this once only applied to mothers considered ‘good enough’.

‘Washington's Birthday’, by Charles Baugniet, c. 1878. Indianapolis Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘A Revolutionary Friendship’ by Francis D. Cogliano review

A Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Republic by Francis D. Cogliano explores a relationship more complex than that of comrades turned rivals.

A painter at work on the 4,000-building Edison – City of Light diorama at the New York World’s Fair, 1940. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

‘Liberty’s Grid’ by Amir Alexander review

Liberty’s Grid: A Founding Father, a Mathematical Dreamland, and the Shaping of America by Amir Alexander explains how the grid system put the United States on the map.

President Calvin Coolidge with Native American delegates, possibly of the Yakama Nation, at the White House, 1925. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

The Indian Citizenship Act

The decision to make Native Americans citizens of the United States was not straightforwardly progressive.

Columbine illustration © Ben Jones/Heart Agency.

Columbine 25 Years On

Columbine marked the beginning of a new era of high-profile mass shootings in the US. Was the attack the inevitable outcome of lax controls and a culture of gun glorification?

The receiving cashier’s cage at the US Treasury, to which money is returned after verification, late 19th-early 20th century. piemags/N23/Alamy Stock Photo.

The US Treasury’s Money Laundering Machine

The term ‘money laundering’ is often associated with mobsters, drug lords and morally dubious executives. But the expression’s first use was far less lawless.