Film
The Forgotten “Black Woodstock” of 1969
Summer of Soul, Questlove’s directorial debut, seeks to resurrect the memory of the Harlem Cultural Festival, a vital touchstone of Black music.
History
History
What Can Shackled and Beheaded Skeletons Reveal About Roman Servitude?
The mere mention of slavery continues to grab attention, even if the evidence is inconclusive.
Film
"Don't Fuck With the Jews" and Other Moments of Muscular Judaism on Film
Cinema’s thorny depictions of Israeli military action reflects the swift shift in Jewish identity around questions of oppression.
History
Harry Houdini and the Great Copyright Escape
Houdini knew that owning a patent for an illusion did little to stop imitators from stealing his thunder — so he employed a bit of legal sleight of hand.
Film
Raoul Peck's Frustratingly Incomplete Treatise on Colonialism
For all its bluntness, Exterminate All the Brutes never once utters the words “rape” or “capitalism.”
Art
Fascinating Illustrations of 18th-century Inoculations by the Inventor of the Smallpox Vaccine
Both Edward Jenner's inoculation methods and the illustrations he made of those he treated were groundbreaking.
Art
How a Map Fueled Perceptions of Asians as an Exoticized “Other”
“Peoples of the Pacific” is one of six murals that was displayed at the influential “Pageant of the Pacific” Golden Gate International Exposition.
Art
Why Do AI-generated Portraits Fail at Realism?
Why do these portraits almost always fall short of being lively or authentic?
History
The Iconography of the Paris Commune, 150 Years Later
On the sesquicentennial of the fall of the Commune, a look back at how artists captured those few revolutionary months.
Art
What the "Nefertiti Hack" Tells Us About Digital Colonialism
A hacked 3D scan of the famous sculpture shows how traditional models of heritage ownership might change in museums.
History
Mid-Century Modernism’s Racial History
What do we know about the history of these designs? Who was buying this furniture when modernism was new, and why?
News
Archaeologists Locate Site of Harriet Tubman’s Family Home
A small coin dated 1808 led archaeologists to identify the area as the former site of the plantation where Tubman lived before escaping enslavement in 1849.