American history

Phyllis Schlafly

The woman who opposed equality with men: Phyllis Schlafly and the real history behind Mrs. America

A family comprising several generations of enslaved people. Resistance, common throughout the history of slavery, ranged from slow working to violent fights for freedom (Universal History Archive/Gertty Images)

Freedom fighters: the enslaved people who fought for the abolition of slavery

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Huge sun setting over power lines and palm trees in California. (Photo by Getty Images)

California’s century of change . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The bikini was showcased to the world for the first time in July 1946. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

8 historical events that happened in July

Pyongyang wreckage, Korean War

The Korean War “created a blood debt that is crucial to understanding North Korean behaviour ever since”

A mushroom cloud produced by the explosion of a hydrogen bomb during Operation Ivy, an American nuclear test that took place in 1952. (SSPL/Getty Images)

How have nuclear weapons shaped global politics? 10 key moments in the post-war atomic world

Prospectors pan for gold in Siberia during the 19th century.

Where did the major gold rushes of the 19th century happen? And why were people so keen to join the gold rush?

Prospecting towns like Dawson boomed during the gold rush.

The dark side of the 19th-century gold rush

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American jazz singer Helen Forrest performing with trumpeter Harry James (1916-1983), c1945. (Photo by Metronome/Getty Images)

History hero Dame Vera Lynn chooses Helen Forrest (1917–99) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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(Original Caption) Chicago: Mrs. Mamie Bradley, mother of Emmett Till, 14, who was found slain in Mississippi where he was on vacation, is near hysteria as she attends funeral services here. Till was found with bullet through head after two white men had kidnapped him.

American spotlight: how today’s protests echo historical outrage . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Violence erupted in New Orleans, and white southerners killed and injured more than 100 freed slaves during a riot against reconstruction plans. (Image by Alamy)

Rebuilding America after the Civil War: what was the Reconstruction era and why did it fail?

Slaves of Confederate Brigadier-General Thomas F Drayton at his cotton plantation in South Carolina during the American Civil War

Why is America haunted by its past?

Two girls are tried for witchcraft in a courtroom scene

What were the Salem Witch Trials?

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Abraham Lincoln (Photo by Library of Congress)

The secret plot to kill Lincoln . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men operate a cotton gin in Dahomey, Mississippi, in 1898

7 key questions about the transatlantic slave trade – answered