American history

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American flags on tombs of American Veterans on Memorial Day, Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky (Blur Effect)On National Register of Historic Places
American flags on tombs of American Veterans on Memorial Day, Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky (Blur Effect)On National Register of Historic Places

By Keeping The Past Alive, Memorial Day Can Help Us Save The Future

Memorial Day is a profound American holiday because it connects the present with so many different points of our past. It was originally known as Decoration Day, a day set aside to honor those who lost their lives in the Civil War—America’s most costly war, taking the lives of at least 620,000 men. Among American holidays, Memorial Day is unique also in that it originated from the vanquished, not the victor. Read More ›
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Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site
Photo from Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: A Celebration of the Redemption of America’s Principles

Nearly 200 years after the vision expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and nearly 100 years after the bloody Civil War and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Martin Luther King Jr. answered the call and ultimately sacrificed his life to finish the work he described as making people, “free at last, free at last.” Read More ›
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A New American Poverty

The new American poverty is not primarily an economic phenomenon – it has become a social, familial and psychological problem that reaches the very foundations of our social order. Read More ›
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Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

Defending American Values, and History

In a speech yesterday at the National Archives, President Trump elevated a formerly obscure academic discipline — critical race theory — into a major theme in his campaign for reelection. Read More ›
Photo by Ben Noble

The Original American Idol

Today we merge Washington’s birthday with the birthdays of other presidents and submerge them all in clothing and appliance sales. But it was not always so. Americans in past centuries celebrated Washington’s birthday as a winter version of the Fourth of July. Americans in Cambridge, Williamsburg, Richmond and Milton, Conn., were already celebrating Washington’s birthday even before the end of Read More ›