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Imani Perry speaks onstage at the 36th Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. at Brooklyn Academy of Music on Jan. 17, 2022.

Want to understand the U.S.? This historian says the South holds the key

Imani Perry says the South can be seen as an "origin point" for the way the nation operates. Her book South to America reflects on the region's history and traces the steps of an enslaved ancestor.

The Harriott II riverboat sits at the Riverfront dock in Montgomery, Ala. Three white men have been charged with assault for attacking the ship's co-captain last Saturday, which turned into a brawl along racial lines, as seen in dozens of videos online.

The riverfront brawl in Alabama reignites national debate over race

Police say the fight in Montgomery, Ala., last week doesn't meet the criteria for hate crime charges. But video clearly shows how the violence broke down on racial lines, historian Derryn Moten says.

The Woodland Plantation House sits near the banks of the Mississippi River in LaPlace, La. The raised creole-style building with a rusty tin roof and wide front porch has Black owners for the first time. The site is historically significant because it's where one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history began.

Louisiana plantation where historic slave revolt started now under Black ownership

The Louisiana plantation home where one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history began has Black owners for the first time. They say the 1811 uprising can inspire a new generation to fight racism.

American abolitionist John Brown led the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Va. That takeover and the man behind it are the subjects of historian Tony Horwitz's new book, <em>Midnight Rising.</em>

A Violent Abolitionist's 'Midnight Rising'

John Brown, the man who led the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., may be among the most polarizing figures in American history. To some, he's a traitor and terrorist; to others, he's a hero. Tony Horwitz discusses his book Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War.

Ernest Hemingway<em> </em>once said, "A man does not exist until he is drunk."

From Vine To Pen: When Your Drink Is In The Ink

Alcohol has bolstered many writing sessions throughout history — not just as a drink but as an ink. For most of the last millennia, writers, artists and kings alike relied on an ink that commonly included wine. Now some people are trying to bring this tradition back.

Kentucky Civil War Dispatch - William Tecumseh Sherman

By Todd Hatton / Berry Craighttp://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-990027.mp3Murray, KY – Among the great figures of American…

Recalling an American Riot on V-J Day

Robert Siegel talks with Charles Fracchia, founder of the San Francisco Historical Society and author of City By the Bay: A History of San Francisco 1945 to the Present, about deadly riots that took place in San Francisco on VJ Day.

National Park Service ranger Betty Reid Soskin, 100, retired on Thursday. She's seen here in 2013, working at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, Calif.

The oldest park ranger, who told the stories of Black women in WWII, retires at 100

"What gets remembered is a function of who's in the room doing the remembering," Betty Reid Soskin has said. She shaped World War II history exhibits to highlight the segregation Black people faced.

The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the farthest star ever seen.

The light from this star that astronomers just spotted is 12.9 billion years old

Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted light from what appears to be the most distant star ever seen. It offers a glimpse into an early moment in the history of the universe.

African-American Model Beverly Johnson On Her Historic 'Vogue' Cover

Johnson reflects on becoming the first black cover model of American Vogue in 1974. September marks another first in the magazine's 126-year history: the cover photographer will be African-American.

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