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The Gilded Age was an era of vast fortunes, immense power and fierce opposition.

These 23 historic photos show the turmoil of the crash that helped usher in the Great Depression.

From pagan rituals to costumes and candy corn, discover how Halloween—and its associated traditions—has evolved through the ages.

The practice can be traced to the ancient Celts, early Roman Catholics and 17th-century British politics.

Which famous French explorer is credited with naming them?

Before we carved pumpkins, the Irish chiseled creepy faces onto turnips.

Stories of a ghostly President Lincoln wandering the corridors and rooms of the White House have persisted for more than a century.

The March 17 holiday is steeped in myths. These St. Patrick’s Day facts share the fun, surprising truth about the celebration.

Preserved by icy waters, the majestic wooden ship of the infamous 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition is revealed in images from the deep of the Weddell Sea.

Christopher Columbus' 1492 arrival in the Americas controversially changed the world and the lives of the Indigenous people he encountered.

See the actor’s six-decade journey from stage to screen.

When Neil Armstrong stepped down a ladder and onto the moon on July 20, 1969, the nation achieved an audacious vision. But there were surprising moments along the way and not everything went as expected.

Some have connected the site with the alleged government coverup of an alien spacecraft crash. Others claim the moon landing was filmed there. If that's not true, what is?

D-Day was a historic World War II invasion, but the events of June 6, 1944 encompassed much more than a key military victory.

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, these 250 people stand out as among the most influential in shaping America.

Revisit history’s defining conflict, from the rise of fascism to Hiroshima, through new insights and human stories. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 destroyed Black Wall Street in Greenwood, Tulsa.

Aileen Wuornos, Ed Gein and Dennis Rader left infamous legacies.

These standout titles don’t just recount battles.

These 12 trailblazers in government, arts, advocacy, business and sports helped shaped American history.

From 'I Have a Dream' to 'Beyond Vietnam,' revisit the words and messages of the legendary civil rights leader.

On December 7, 1941, a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shocked America. These are the stories of veterans who were there.

On the morning of December 7, 1941 Paul Kennedy found himself staring straight at an incoming Japanese aircraft.

Perfect picks for the wanna-be time traveler on your list.

As a first-grader, her image became an emotional symbol for civil rights and educational equality.

U.S. presidents have received elaborate welcomes by the British monarchy since 1918.

From its colors to the rendering of a snake-eating eagle, the Mexican flag is packed with symbolism and history.

These people went off the beaten track. Then things went horribly wrong.

These aircraft, tanks, rocket launchers and more serve as the workhorses of American warfare. One has even earned the nickname "the finger of God."

Chris Mellon believes the government should more aggressively gather intel on military UFO sightings, some of which were captured on video.

Civil War secrets found in a battlefield garbage pile. A jewel thief in a powdered wig who hastened Marie Antoinette’s downfall. A Supreme Court showdown started by barmaids. Discover 25 fascinating—and often overlooked—moments that made history.

A brutally drawn-out election in 1271 led to the formation of the secretive, secluded conclave—and quicker elections.

A look back at some pivotal moments in the complicated relationship between the two superpowers.

Their backstories may surprise you.

Halloween's focus on horror and make believe has spawned creepy legends, ghost stories—and hoaxes.

From witches to zombies to creepy clowns, the season's hair-raising legends all formed from decades—to centuries—of lore.

The Woodstock music festival may not have been a smoothly run event, but it featured electric moments—musical and otherwise—that made it unforgettable.

A diplomat who used the power of paperwork, a 16-year-old girl who shot Nazis from her bicycle and a teacher who hid Jewish children in baskets were among those who risked their lives to save others during World War II.

The 20-foot piece of the NASA space shuttle was found off the coast of Florida during the filming of the new HISTORY Channel series, 'The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters.'

Images show devastation during the 2001 terror attacks, and the tragic aftermath.

Watch videos about the attacks of 9/11 and the aftermath.

The struggle for LGBTQ rights dates at least as far back as 1924 and accelerated in the wake of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.

He's America's first president. The icon we all think we know. But in reality, he was a complicated human being.

If you’ve ever received an anonymous flower basket at your doorstep on the first day of May, you may have been the recipient of a May Day basket.

This HISTORY Channel podcast, produced in partnership with WNYC Studios, was honored with a 2024 Peabody Award.

Meet the standout soldiers, spies and homefront forces who fought in American conflicts, from the Revolution to World War II.

'After Auschwitz, the human condition is no longer the same. After Auschwitz, nothing will ever be the same.' —Elie Wiesel.

On the morning of 9/11 in New York City, ordinary people picked up video cameras and recorded. This is what they saw—and how they reflected on the experience years later.

The first Indigenous cabinet member in U.S. history, Haaland hails from a lineage of 35 generations based in New Mexico.

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a grassroots movement for Indigenous rights, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group has organized many high-profile protests and occupations, and was a driving force behind the Native American civil rights movement of the 1970s.

The Trail of Tears was the deadly journey Native Americans were forced to undergo after being removed from their ancestral lands.

Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief who organized a Native American confederacy to create a free Indian state and stop white settlement in the Great Lakes region.

Native Americans, also known as American Indians and Indigenous Americans, are the indigenous peoples of the United States. By the time European adventurers arrived in the 15th century A.D., scholars estimate that more than 50 million Native Americans were already living in the Americas — 10 million in the area that would become the United States.

As explorers sought to colonize their land, Native Americans responded in various stages, from cooperation to indignation to revolt.

Native American Heritage Month is celebrated each November to honor the history and culture of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The Fireside Chats refer to some 30 speeches President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed to the American people via radio from March 1933 to June 1944. Roosevelt spoke on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches.

The Dust Bowl, the drought-stricken Southern and Central Plains during the 1930s, was one of the worst disasters in U.S. history.

Hoovervilles, named after unpopular President Herbert Hoover, were encampments of crude dwellings for poor and homeless people during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in modern history, lasting from the stock market crash of 1929 until 1939.

Hirohito was emperor of Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. He oversaw the country during World War II and the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Charles the Great was a medieval king who established a vast Carolingian empire and was eventually crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century.

James Buchanan’s Early Years and Personal Life James Buchanan was born on April 23, 1791, in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, to James Buchanan Sr. (1761-1833), a merchant who had emigrated from Ireland, and Elizabeth Speer Buchanan (1767-1833). The younger Buch...

James Monroe (1758-1831), the fifth U.S. president, oversaw major westward expansion of the U.S. He also strengthened American foreign policy in 1823 with the Monroe Doctrine, a warning to European countries against further colonization and intervention in the Western Hemisphere.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) served as the 6th U.S. president, from 1825 to 1829. He was the son of former president John Adams, a Founding Father. Quincy Adams was outspoken in his opposition to slavery and support of freedom of speech.

Early Years and Congressional Career Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 14, 1913. His name at birth was Leslie Lynch King Jr., after his biological father. His mother, Dorothy, divorced King when her son was a baby and moved to...

Warren Harding (1865-1923) was the 29th U.S. president, who served from 1921 to 1923 before dying of an apparent heart attack. Harding’s presidency was overshadowed by the criminal activities of some of his cabinet members and other government officials, although he himself was not directly involved in any wrongdoing.

Martin Van Buren’s Early Life Martin Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782, six years after the colonists declared their independence from Britain. His parents were both of Dutch descent, and his father was a tavern keeper and farmer in Kinderhook, New...

Early Career Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, on March 18, 1837. He was the fifth of nine children of Richard Falley Cleveland (1804-53), a Presbyterian minister, and Anne Neal Cleveland (1806-82). In 1841, the family moved to ...

William Henry Harrison was an Army general, governor, congressman and senator before becoming the ninth U.S. president and the first to die in office.

Ida McKinley (1847-1907) was an American first lady (1897-1901) and the wife of William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States. Her ill health, particularly the onset of epilepsy when she was in her 30s, limited her ability to perform many of...

Abigail Fillmore (1798-1853) was an American first lady (1850-1853) and the wife of Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States. The first first lady to work outside of the home, she met her future husband while she was his teacher at a sc...

Florence Harding (1860-1924) was an American first lady (1921-23) and the wife of Warren G. Harding, 29th president of the United States. Energetic, strong-willed and popular, she was an important influence on her husband’s business and political career...

Lucille “Lucy” Hayes (1831-89) was an American first lady (1877-81) and the wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States. The well-educated Lucy was the first first lady to have graduated from college, receiving her degree from W...

Helen Taft (1861-1943) was an American first lady (1909-13) and the wife of William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States and later chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. As a member of a successful Ohio political family, Helen (or Nellie, ...

Edith Wilson (1872-1961) was an American first lady (1915–21) and the second wife of Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States. The couple married just a year after the 1914 death of Wilson’s first wife, Ellen. Though Edith admitted she had no...

Eleanor Roosevelt’s Early Years Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City. Her father, Elliott Roosevelt (1860-1894) was the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt, and her mother, Anna Hall (1863-1892), was from a wealthy New...

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier: Early Life and Marriage Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born on July 28, 1929, in Southampton, New York. Her parents, Janet Lee and stockbroker John “Black Jack” Bouvier, divorced in 1942, and Jackie’s mother married lawyer Hugh Auchi...

The Athenian philosopher Plato is one of the most important figures of the Ancient Greek world and the entire history of Western thought.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher who made significant and lasting contributions to nearly every aspect of human knowledge, from logic to biology to ethics and aesthetics.

Thomas Paine was a writer and philosopher whose pamphlets "Common Sense," "The Age of Reason" and "Rights of Man" supported the Revolutionary War and other causes.

The English philosopher and political theorist John Locke (1632-1704) laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment and made central contributions to the development of liberalism. Trained in medicine, he was a key advocate of the empirical approaches of the Scientific Revolution.

Socrates is one of the most exemplary and strangest of Greek philosophers who helped pave the way for other prominent thinkers including Plato and Aristotle.

Martin Luther, a German monk whose 95 Theses protested the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, sparked the Protestant Reformation.

The printing press, which allows for the mass production of printed matter, originated in China before Johannes Gutenberg perfected his version around 1450.

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who developed a heliocentric theory of the solar system, upending the belief that Earth was the center of the universe.

Niccolo Machiavelli was a diplomat, politician and writer in Renaissance Italy whose most infamous quotes come from his books The Prince and The Art of War.

Michelangelo was a sculptor, painter and architect widely considered to be one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. His works include the Sistine Chapel.

The Medici family was a powerful dynasty that ruled Florence, Italy, and soon spread their artistic and economic influence throughout Renaissance Europe.

The Italian Renaissance in Context Fifteenth-century Italy was unlike any other place in Europe. It was divided into independent city-states, each with a different form of government. Florence, where the Italian Renaissance began, was an independent rep...

The Renaissance advanced culture, arts, politics and commerce.

Veterans Day is a US holiday dedicated to all veterans. Formerly called Armistance Day, Veterans Day 2026 occurs on Wednesday, November 11.

The Nazca Lines are a collection of ancient geoglyphs, many of which depict giant plants, animals and shapes, that line the coastal plain south of Lima, Peru.

Serpent Mound is the world’s largest surviving effigy mound—a mound in the shape of an animal—from the prehistoric era. Located in southern Ohio, the 411-meter-long (1348-feet-long) Native American structure has been excavated a few times since the late 1800s, but the origins of Serpent Mound are still a mystery. Some estimates place the construction of the National Historic Landmark—also called Great Serpent Mound—at around 300 B.C.

Of the original Seven Wonders, only one—the Great Pyramid of Giza—remains intact.

Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city famed for its pyramids. This area of modern-day Mexico was settled as early as 400 B.C. and named by the Aztecs.

Built during a time when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world, the pyramids—especially the Great Pyramids of Giza—are some of the most magnificent man-made structures in history.

Delphi was an ancient religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo. Said to be the center of the world, the site was also home to the Oracle of Delphi.

Sacagawea was a Shoshone Indian woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804-06, exploring the lands procured in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.