Thaddeus Morgan

In the early 1970s, Black and Latinx gay, trans and queer people developed a thriving subculture in house balls, where they could express themselves freely and find acceptance within a marginalized community. It was here where the world of drag pageantry, which often favored ...read more

For centuries, Black Americans have used music as a powerful tool. In the antebellum South, enslaved people sang spirituals to covertly plan their escape to freedom. Poems were put to music and performed to celebrate the eradication of slavery, and ballads and hip hop have been ...read more

In the mid 19th century in Macon, Georgia, a man and woman fell in love, married and, as many young couples do, began thinking about starting a family. But Ellen and William Craft were both enslaved and were well aware that any of their future children could be ripped away at any ...read more

During the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1920s, actors and actresses shot to fame—but only if they tailored their images to the demands of the big studios. For LGBT actors, that often meant marrying a person of the opposite sex. The early 20th century represented a unique time ...read more

HISTORY is proud to join with Google Earth to present an interactive view of the Freedom Rides. On the first day of May, in 1961, a group of 13 activists gathered to prepare for one of the most harrowing and courageous challenges to segregation in America. Travel along the bus ...read more

Most people have heard about famous inventions like the light bulb, the cotton gin and the iPhone. But there are countless other, often overlooked inventions that make our daily lives easier. Among the creative innovators behind these devices are African American inventors. From ...read more

In the autumn of 1781, the American colonial army fought in the Battle of Yorktown, the final and arguably most consequential battle for American independence from British rule. By all accounts, this monumental victory, which forced the surrender of British General Lord ...read more

In 1984, Wes Craven introduced the world to one of the most iconic horror films of all time: A Nightmare on Elm Street. His creation of Freddy Krueger as a demon who kills teens in their dreams was heinous, terrifying and literally ripped from the headlines. Craven found ...read more

During his time on the Supreme Court, Justice Hugo Black voted to desegregate schools, expand freedom of the press and help protect housing options for minorities. He was also a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. While Black’s liberal leanings during this New Deal era, would not ...read more

On an unusually empty street in New York City, a single cab drops off a woman clad in diamonds and a Givenchy dress in front of Tiffany’s & Co. As she casually gazes up, the iconic opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s is underway. But it’s not long before many viewers are ...read more

When Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz laid their eyes on a beat-up and rusted old van that had been pulled up from the dirt in the Massachusetts woods—they noticed it had a few distinctive features: there was a cartoon in the same pose as the signature Keep on Truckin’ comic on the ...read more

Among the white supremacist members of the Ku Klux Klan, Ron Stallworth stood out for a couple reasons: he was an undercover officer and he was a black man. In the fall of 1978, at the Colorado Springs Police Department, Stallworth saw an ad in the local newspaper calling for new ...read more

The number 13 is commonly considered unlucky, but in Mexico, the number 41 has been seen as taboo and avoided—at one point the Army left the number out of battalions, hotel and hospital rooms didn’t use it and some even skipped their 41st birthday altogether. The reason has to do ...read more

On an afternoon in the spring of 1966, at the corner of 10th Street and Waverly Place in Greenwich Village, three men set out to disrupt the political and social climate of New York City. After having gone from one bar to the next, the men reached Julius’, a cozy tavern with a ...read more

On the morning of August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to a crowd of more than 200,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Marking the 100-year anniversary of Lincoln’s delivery of the Gettysburg Address, King hoped to mend the racial fractures within the ...read more

Confederate President Jefferson Davis occupied an anxious home in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War. A steady leak of information dripped from the highest ranks of the Confederacy to the Union. Davis was wary of a mole in his house, but had no idea how to stop the flow of ...read more

With each passing day, the debate for or against gun control rages on within the United States. And although the National Rifle Association (NRA) currently leads the charge for the rights of citizens to carry guns of all types with little to no interference from the government, ...read more

In the vast fictional universe of Marvel Comics, T’Challa, better known as Black Panther, is not only king of Wakanda, he’s also the richest superhero of them all. And although today’s fight for the title of wealthiest person alive involves a tug-of-war between billionaire CEOs, ...read more

“Diane, you’ve gotten in with the wrong bunch.” Those were the words that civil rights activist Diane Nash heard when her grandmother found out she was involved in the civil rights movement in 1960. Imagine her grandmother’s surprise when she found out that Nash wasn’t just ...read more

Valentine’s Day is the one holiday made for showing love and affection. But the history behind the oldest-known valentine involves a tale of royal in-fighting, warfare and imprisonment in a medieval tower. The “valentine” itself was actually a few lines in a poem, written by ...read more

On a riverbank in Texas, a master of disguise waited patiently with his accomplice, hoping that his target, an infamous horse thief, would show himself on the trail. After four days, the hunch paid off, when the bandit unwittingly walked toward the man who haunted the outlaws of ...read more

The Tyrannosaurus rex is revered as one of the most fearsome creatures to inhabit the earth, with an average weight of six tons and the power to tear off 500 pounds using its massive jaw. But one researcher believes the dinosaur’s most ridiculed body part may have been just as ...read more

The United States may have one of the largest armies on earth, but even the Pentagon has taken no chances at being caught off-guard by an unusual foe. In fact, in 2011, the U.S. Department of Defense released a strategy to combat a potential zombie apocalypse. While the potential ...read more

An elaborate Viking Age grave in Sweden holds the remains of a decorated female warrior from the 10th century, providing the first archaeological evidence that women held high-status positions in Viking culture. The remarkable find was revealed in a study by researchers at ...read more

There are few things in life as frustrating as being caught in a traffic jam. Trapped and forced to helplessly wait at a standstill, the sound of music drowned out by the back-and-forth honking of horns. According to a recent analysis done by INRIX, a company dedicated to ...read more

The game of politics in America has long been a heated one, with partisan, divisive actions on both sides. In fact, there’s not much on Capitol Hill that hasn’t been said or done between politicians with opposing stances. However, one U.S. Representative recently suggested ...read more

President Donald Trump has lately been making some assertions about presidential pardons. On July 22, 2017, he tweeted that “the U.S. president has complete power to pardon.” But before the leader of the free world evaluates what’s possible in terms of pardoning his relatives and ...read more

Vikings made their bloody but brief mark on history hundreds of years ago through their nomadic lifestyle and wild practices of raping, pillaging and conquering anything or anyone who crossed their path. These nomads were often seen as savages as they traveled throughout Europe, ...read more

Aviatrix. Pioneer. Record breaker. Fashion entrepreneur? Amelia Earhart’s accomplishments above the clouds made her a worldwide icon, but she was also a savvy businesswoman. In the 30s, Earhart became one of the first celebrities to create her own fashion line. Today, women ...read more

After World War II, many high-ranking Nazis escaped to Argentina. There, they concealed their identities and tended to live out of the public eye. Now a massive cache of original Nazi artifacts—including a photograph of Adolf Hitler and a ghoulish cranial-measurement device—has ...read more