Aug 16 Watch 5:57 The origin of ‘white trash,’ and why class is still an issue in the U.S. By PBS News Hour In “White Trash,” Nancy Isenberg delves into the history of class in America, starting with British colonization. At that time, America was seen as a wasteland -- a place to discard the idle poor. The agrarian communities they subsequently formed… Continue watching
Jun 27 Watch 3:22 Telling American history 140 characters at a time By PBS News Hour In our NewsHour Shares moment of the day, presidential historian and NewsHour regular Michael Beschloss provides a unique perspective on American history through his Twitter account. He shares some of his favorite digital insights. Continue watching
May 08 New York City high school students pose questions to cast of ‘Hamilton’ By PBS News Hour What would you ask the cast of "Hamilton"?… Continue reading
May 08 Watch 9:08 Why thousands of students are seeing Broadway smash ‘Hamilton’ By Saskia de Melker, Melanie Saltzman This spring, 20,000 public high school students from low-income neighborhoods in New York City will get the opportunity to see “Hamilton,” the Broadway smash hit nominated this week for a record 16 Tony Awards. Students can see the show as… Continue watching
Nov 26 Watch 8:20 Were pilgrims America’s original economic migrants? By PBS News Hour Four hundred years ago, a group of pilgrims founded a colony in Plymouth. But what did they hope to accomplish there, how did they live? Economics correspondent Paul Solman jumps back in time to interview some of these early settlers… Continue watching
May 19 Watch 6:17 New book explores Jackson’s dark choices for American expansion By PBS News Hour Steve Inskeep, co-host of NPR's Morning Edition, explores a chapter of American history that isn't well known: how the United States expanded into the Deep South after the Revolutionary War. Inskeep joins Judy Woodruff to discuss his new book, "Jacksonland:… Continue watching
Apr 29 Even as online learning grows, America’s students struggle with U.S. history, civics By Kyla Calvert Mason The most recent scores of eighth graders on national tests of U.S. history, geography and civics show students’ command of those subjects haven’t increased since the tests, part of a suite of exams known as the Nation’s Report Card, were… Continue reading
Feb 18 Obama to designate new national monuments in Colorado, Hawaii and Illinois By Matthew Daly, Associated Press President Barack Obama is designating three new national monuments for protection as historic or ecologically significant sites, including the Pullman neighborhood in Chicago where African-American railroad workers won a historic labor agreement. Continue reading
Feb 13 How the West got rich and modern capitalism was born By Sven Beckert "We need to qualify the fairy tale we like to tell about capitalism and free labor," argues Harvard historian Sven Beckert, author of the new book, "Empire of Cotton." In part two of his essay on Making Sen$e, he explores… Continue reading
Feb 12 America’s first big business? Not the railroads, but slavery By Sven Beckert For too long, historian Sven Beckert argues, historians have depicted slavery as a non-capitalist "Southern pathology." In his new book, "Empire of Cotton," Beckert shows how slavery was actually at the very roots of modern American capitalism. Continue reading