History Now Essay Getting Ready to Lead a World Economy: Enterprise in Nineteenth-Century America Joyce Appleby Economics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ When Jefferson won the presidency in 1801, his victory had an economic impact as great as the political one. The establishment of the new government under the Constitution twelve years earlier had laid the foundation for an integrated... Appears in: 24 | Shaping the American Economy Summer 2010
History Now Essay A Place in History: Historical Perspective on Martin Luther King Jr. Day James Oliver Horton Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In the late fall of 1983, the US Congress passed a bill declaring the third Monday of January each year as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law on November 2, 1983, fifteen years after King’s... Appears in: 4 | American National Holidays Summer 2005 57 | Black Voices in American Historiography Summer 2020
Essay The American Revolution, 1763–1783 Pauline Maier World History The British colonists of mainland North America had great hopes for the future in 1763, when the Peace of Paris formally ended the Seven Years’ War. Since the late seventeenth century, their lives had been disrupted by a series of...
History Now Essay The Contentious Election of 1876 Michael F. Holt Economics, Government and Civics The presidential election of 1876 is better known for its controversial aftermath than for the campaign that preceded it. The basic outline of events after Election Day, November 7, 1876, is familiar. The Democratic candidate,... Appears in: 33 | Electing a President Fall 2012
Essay The Civil Rights Movement Taylor Branch The word "movement" often designates a cultural shift of less import than the American Revolution, Great Depression, and other capitalized dramas in history. To be sure, some popular movements have gained broader recognition in the...
History Now Essay Vietnam Veterans Memorial Maya Lin Art Reprinted by permission of Maya Lin from her book Boundaries (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000). It’s taken me years to be able to discuss the making of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial , partly because I needed to move past it and... Appears in: 45 | American History in Visual Art Summer 2016
History Now Essay Memorializing the Gravesites of Twentieth-Century African Americans Karla F. C. Holloway Excerpts reprinted by permission of Karla F. C. Holloway from her book Passed On: African American Mourning Stories (Duke University Press, 2003). I wandered for an hour trying to find Harriet Tubman (1913). I didn’t mind the time. I... Appears in: 62 | The Honored Dead: African American Cemeteries, Graveyards, and Burial Grounds Spring 2022