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
Oct 29 Lost and found? Fragment of Earhart's missing plane identified By Lorna Baldwin After 77 years of searching, researchers announced they are one big step closer to knowing where aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and her plane ended up. An aluminum fragment found in 1991 on a remote, uninhabited coral atoll in the Pacific… Continue reading
Jul 03 Watch Finding empowerment in the words of our founding fathers By PBS News Hour We have lost something in our reading of the Declaration of Independence. This is the argument of Danielle Allen’s new book, “Our Declaration,” where she explores the document through a careful look at the words themselves. Jeffrey Brown talks to… Continue watching
Apr 28 American History in 17 syllables and 140 characters By Victoria Fleischer For historian H. W. Brands, there are many ways to write about history. When teaching his students at the University of Texas the different tried and true formats for a good paper, Brands, who is known for his books Andrew… Continue reading
Mar 06 How counting the unemployed started as a progressive reform By Zachary Karabell Economists and the media use the monthly jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to take the pulse of our economy. But the collection of that data actually grew out of a progressive reform movement to asses the plight… Continue reading
Nov 19 Watch 7:26 '12 Years a Slave' restores historic firsthand account to cultural consciousness By PBS News Hour In depicting American slavery, Hollywood has long left some of the most brutal realities largely unseen. But the filmmakers behind "12 Years a Slave" tried not to flinch in showing the full system of human subjugation. Jeffrey Brown talks to… Continue watching
Jul 04 Watch Examining the Supreme Court Session Through the Lens of History Examining the Supreme Court Session Through the Lens of History… Continue watching
Nov 24 Watch Smithsonian Overhaul Ushers in Change at Institution Recent outrage over the Smithsonian's management practices tarnished the cultural and scientific giant's image. Days after its National Museum of American History reopened in Washington, Jeffrey Brown reports on changes that are underway and new funding challenges. Continue watching