Story of the week

Story of the Week: The Hidden Racist History of the National Anthem

by Jason Johnson

In the third, forgotten stanza, Francis Scott Key refers darkly to the members of the Colonial Marines, a battalion of runaway slaves who joined with the British Royal Army in exchange for their freedom. 

Story of the Week:  How Animals Have Been Used as Weapons

by Tonio Andrade

Before guided missiles, humans had few ways to attack their enemies remotely, so they tried using animals.

Story of the Week: The man who began campaigning against #OscarsSoWhite – 74 years ago

by Jenny Woodley

In 1942 a man called Walter White travelled from New York to Hollywood, armed with a letter of introduction from the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. His aim was to try to persuade filmmakers to positively portray African Americans in movies.

Story of the Week: The man who developed a vaccination for smallpox

by Andrew George

Was his smallpox experiment really unethical?

Story of the Week: The obscure history of the ‘virgin’s disease’ that could be cured with sex

by Helen King

When virginity was a disease, sex (preferably marital) was the only lasting solution.

Story off the Week: The Revolution's Longest Love Story

by Gil Troy

The longest living American Revolutionary War veteran also had the longest marriage.

Story of the Week: The Forgotten Midwest Craze for Building Palaces Out of Grain

by Sarah Laskow

These grand buildings were meant to show off their cities’ bounty and to lure settlers to the otherwise foreboding plains.

The Man Who Gave Air Force One a Lift

by Michael Beschloss

The look of today’s presidential plane originated with a quiet collaboration between President John F. Kennedy and Raymond Loewy, who was perhaps the most accomplished commercial image and design expert of the post-World War II era.