Visions and Revisions of History in the Latin American Novel of Dictatorship
The twentieth-century Latin American novel of dictatorship has had an important impact on the interpretation of Latin American history. Many novels, such as Yo el Supremo (1974) and El fiscal (1993) by Augusto Roa Bastos, and La novela de Peran (1985) and Santa Evita (1995) by Toma
Wedding.
This 1866 news engraving showed a chaplain marrying an African-American couple in the offices of the Vicksburg Freedmen's Bureau. Because marriages between slaves before emancipation had no legal standing, many couples rushed to have their marriages officially registered and made solemn during Reconstruction. ...
Witchcraft
Law and custom in seventeenth-century New England gave male property owners authority over the women, children, and other dependents of their families. Women who spoke up or stood out merited suspicion, and many were accused, prosecuted, and occasionally executed for the crime of witchcraft. Women could ...
"A Decent Home . . . for Every American Family": Postwar Housing Shortage Victims Testify before Con
New home construction declined dramatically during the Great Depression as rents rose, reaching an all-time high in 1940. A persistent housing shortage continuing into the early 1950s forced families to separate and apartment dwellers to "double-up." The housing reform movement, largely ineffectual ...
Believe it or not
At the close of the twentieth century, 93 percent of the U.S. population professed to believe in angels, 49 percent were sure that the federal government was hiding information about the existence of unidentified flying objects, and 25 percent thought they could communicate with the dead. Many Americans ...
"Five generations on Smith's plantation, Beaufort, South Carolina."
This African-American family was photographed in 1862 after Union forces captured the Sea Island coastal area of South Carolina. One of four photographs taken by Timothy O'Sullivan of the J. J. Smith plantation, this picture was subsequently exhibited at Alexander Gardner's Washington, D.C., photography ...
"How Many Thousands?" Bruce Priebe on AIDS Activism
When AIDS struck the gay community during the early 1980's, many who had not previously consider themselves activists, like Bruce Priebe, became politically active. Militancy, political action, and demands for rights and recognition within the gay and lesbian community had been building throughout the ...
"I Climbed Poles, I Ran Cable, I Ran a Jackhammer:" Faith Robinson Describes Harassment On the Job
The women's movement of the 1970's had a far-reaching impact that was felt in every recess of American society. Working class women began to enter non-traditional jobs in trades and craft unions, and lesbians found a larger community in which to express their sexuality. In both cases, women faced resistance ...
"I Didn't Know Anything About Voting:" Fannie Lou Hamer On The Mississippi Voter Registration Campai
Fannie Lou Hamer, the last of 20 children and a Mississippi tenant farmer, leapt to national prominence during the 1964 Democratic National Convention, when she eloquently challenged Mississippi's segregated Democratic primary on national television. In 1962, she had become a leader of the African-American ...
"Identify them by their garb."
The Democratic party arrived at its 1968 convention in Chicago torn apart by the Vietnam war and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. As delegates and protestors arrived in Chicago in late August 1968, the Chicago American newspaper published a guide to the cast of characters" ...
"It Was All Men Talking:" Cathy Wilkerson on 1960s Campus Organizing
Many of those who took part in the student movement of the 1960's drew their inspiration from the African-American struggle for freedom. That was true for Cathy Wilkerson, who became involved in the civil rights movement and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1963 while at Swarthmore College. ...
"It Was Like A Weed:" Carl Oglesby on The 1960s Student Movement
Inspired by the Civil Rights movement, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was formed in 1962 to address issues of poverty, as well as feelings of helplessness, alienation, and indifference in African-American and working class communities. The group, which focused initially on community organizing, ...
"Self Determination of Free Peoples": Founding Documents of the American Indian Movement (AIM)
The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 sought to restore tribal self-determination. In the early 1950s, Congress passed legislation to limit this Act, terminating some American Indian reservations and cutting economic support for others. From 1950 to 1970, more than 100 American Indian tribes lost reservation ...
"The arraignment."
John Brown was a staunch abolitionist and a veteran of guerrilla warfare in Kansas who alarmed even free soilers with his forceful assertions of African-American equality. On October 16, 1859 Brown, three of his sons, and 19 associates raided the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Planning ...
The Bloody Massacre
With ongoing protests against the Townshend Duties, waterfront jobs scarce due to nonimportation, and poorly-paid, off-duty British troops competing for jobs, clashes between American laborers and British troops became frequent after 1768. In Boston, tensions mounted rapidly in 1770 until a confrontation ...
"The Bostonians paying the excise-man, or tarring and feathering."
A 1774 British print depicted the tarring and feathering of Boston Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm. Tarring and feathering was a ritual of humiliation and public warning that stopped just short of serious injury. Victims included British officials such as Malcolm and American merchants who violated ...
"The Process of Coming Back into the World": An American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) Activist Advocates
In 1968, young urban-based American Indians in Minnesota formed the American Indian Movement (AIM) to fight mistreatment by police and to improve prospects for jobs, education, and housing. In 1972, AIM initiated "The Trail of Broken Treaties," and a subsequent march to Washington to present the Nixon ...
"The Ruins of Their Postwar Dream Homes": Housing Reform Advocates Testify before Congress
New home construction declined dramatically during the Great Depression as rents rose, reaching an all-time high in 1940. A persistent housing shortage continuing into the early 1950s forced families to separate and apartment dwellers to "double-up." The housing reform movement, largely ineffectual ...
The Women's Movement and Women in SDS: Cathy Wilkerson Recalls the Tensions
The New Left facilitated the emergence of a new women's movement in the late 1960's. The rebirth of American feminism emerged in part from the New Left's probing of the political dimension of personal life, but also from the discrimination many young women faced within the movement itself. While thousands ...
"I Would Like to See Them Outlawed": Citizens Complain to Congress about Sweepstakes Promotions
In the 1960s, lottery-like contests designed to publicize products through sweepstakes competitions spread rapidly. In the 19th century, every state banned lotteries--defined as competitions in which chances to win prizes were sold÷to protect citizens. In 1868, Congress prohibited the distribution of lottery materials through the mail. The mid-20th century sweepstakes, however, did not require contestants to purchase tickets or products to win prizes and were thus considered legal. In 1966, the
