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The Job of Honoring the Dead at an Oklahoma Native School has Fallen to the Alumni

"Students who died at boarding schools didn’t receive proper burials in accordance with tribal traditions, said Gordon Yellowman, director of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ language and culture program."

Remembering Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, and his Merciless Roasting of David Duke

Edwin Edwards saved the state of Louisiana by attacking Duke as a hateful bigot, winning office despite a record of corruption. 

The Moral Panic Over Critical Race Theory Is Coming for a North Carolina Teacher of the Year

Rodney Pierce won honors for going beyond a teach-the-test approach to middle school social studies by pushing his students to understand the history of their local community, including racism. He fears making white parents uncomfortable may jeopardize his job.

The World’s Museums Are Working Out How to Remember the Pandemic

Trends upward for vaccination and downward for new infections mean that people are able to return to in-person museum visits. Are they ready to view exhibitions on the pandemic? 

9/11 Museum’s 20th-Anniversary Exhibitions Become Victims of Cuts

The budget crunch has also forced furloughs and layoffs of staff as the museum pulls back to focus on its core exhibit. 

‘Lean Into It. Lean Into the Culture War': Are Liberals Really Stoking Conflict?

by Thomas B. Edsall

Thomas Edsall argues that political science research on polarization undercuts recent liberal and centrist arguments that the left is responsible for the culture wars by pushing extreme identity politics. 

How Tucker Carlson Became the Voice of White Grievance

"What emerges is a portrait of an ambitious television personality who came of age in privilege — having grown up in an upper-class enclave and attended private schools — but who, by his own telling, is a victim."

CRT: How to Manufacture a Moral Panic

"When an educator exposes the racism that lurks within this nation, they often find themselves at the mercy of an onslaught from the right."

German Museum Repatriates Lakota Chief’s Shirt, Citing ‘Moral and Ethical Reasons’

Duane Hollow Horn Bear had visited the Weltkulturen Museum in 2019 and submitted a request for the shirt’s return that included a historic portrait photograph, dated to 1900, by John Alvin Anderson.

Abolish the Olympics

Natalie Shure argues that the Games impose too many costs on their host cities to justify a short-lived athletic spectacle. 

How White Newspapers Helped Keep Down Black America

White-owned newspapers – northern, southern, midwestern or western – frequently inflamed racial tensions and contributed to racist political violence and disenfranchisement. 

First It Was Sex Ed. Now It’s Critical Race Theory

Republican attacks on cultural issues within America’s public schools follow a familiar pattern.

Far-Right Activists Protest with Confederate Flags at UNC’s Unsung Founders Memorial

Two white supremacists picketed the University of North Carolina's memorial to the free and enslaved Black workers who built the university, the latest incident of racial tension on the campus. 

Douthat: The War that Made Our World

Columnist Ross Douthat argues that greater attention to the French and Indian War can support a view of history that embraces the complexity of the past without falling into simplistic patriotism or cynicism. 

Bouie: America Punishes Only a Certain Kind of Rebel

by Jamelle Bouie

Impunity for the leaders of the Confederacy enabled the bloody overthrow of Reconstruction and the reestablishment of white supremacy. The mistake must not be repeated for the January 6 riots. 

David Frum: There’s a Word for What Trumpism Is Becoming

"Why do people sign up with the putschists after the putsch has failed? They’re betting that the failed putsch is not the past—it’s the future."

Germany Apologized for a Genocide. It’s Nowhere Near Enough

by Kavena Hambira and Miriam Gleckman-Krut

"To begin to atone for its Namibian genocide, Germany must negotiate directly with descendants of survivors — and commit to wide-ranging reparations."

Texas Lawmakers Take Aim At Critical Race Theory

"Democratic Senator Nathan Johnson says since critical race theory isn't actually taught in Texas public schools, the push for bills opposing it is all politics."

Chicago Versus Lake Michigan

The history of Chicago is defined by efforts to tame water for navigation, sanitation, and drinking. Climate change is raising the stakes of that battle. 

The Republican Party of Virginia isn't Happy with Larry Sabato's Tweets

"Offering a response to Anderson’s criticism, Sabato tweeted Thursday night: 'Thanks to the Republicans for the hearty laugh you’ve given me...There goes my reserved seat at your next #insurrection'."