History

National

A Glimpse Of History, As Museun Of African-American History Opens

5:40pm September 24, 2016

The National Museum of African-American History and Culture opens on the National Mall on Saturday. NPR's Sam Sanders talks to visitors and tells us what it was like on the first day.

Trade is the one thing that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump seem to agree on.

Episode 725: Trade Show

10:39pm September 23, 2016

On today's show: The fight over free trade. Come for the man who dreamed of world peace through trade. Stay for Robert Smith in the mean streets of Seattle.

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Arts
News

Lowe's Donates $1M To African American Museum

11:48am September 23, 2016

by Neal Charnoff

Lowe's Home Improvement is donating $1 million dollars to the Smithsonian's National Museum of A

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"You can't have the modern American restaurant without Delmonico's," explains Yale historian Paul Freedman. The restaurant opened in 1837, setting the bar very high for fine dining. Above, a dinner in honor of an admiral held at Delmonico's in 1906.

Food For Thought: 10 Restaurants That Shaped America

4:30pm September 21, 2016

by Neda Ulaby

A Yale historian's new book explores America's changing tastes, and what they say about our culture — from class mobility to civil rights to women's changing status.

This 3,000-year-old pot was found with burnt cheese residue still inside.

3,000-Year-Old Cooking Fail Found At A Danish Dig Site

11:17am September 21, 2016

by Marius Stankiewicz

Archaeologists have found the glassy remains of burnt cheese in an ancient pot. It seems trial and error is a timeless method to the madness of creating good food.

Winston Churchill was so displeased with Graham Sutherland's portrait that his wife asked his secretary to destroy it. Pictured here is a preparatory sketch.

'The Face Of Britain' Tells A Nation's History Through Portraits

6:23pm September 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

Art historian Simon Schama shares the stories behind the artworks — from the portrait that made an 18th-century actor into a star, to the one Winston Churchill's secretary threw into a bonfire.

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"The Soiling of Old Glory," was taken on April 5th, 1976, during the Boston busing desegregation protests.

Life After Iconic Photo: Today's Parallels Of American Flag's Role In Racial Protest

4:56pm September 18, 2016

by NPR Staff

A Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken during the busing desegregation protests captured a nation. The photographer and subject of "The Soiling of Old Glory," talk about it's significance 40 years on.

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Mae Reeves and her husband Joel pose with her hats at Mae's Millinery in Philadelphia, circa 1953.

Mae Reeves' Hats Hang At National Museum Of African American History And Culture

1:45pm September 18, 2016

by Hansi Lo Wang

Mae Reeves was one of the first African-American business owners in Philadelphia, where she designed hats for Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and Marian Anderson.

Newly Found HMS Terror Could Provide Clues To Fateful 1848 Shipwreck

8:06am September 18, 2016

With the likely discovery of the HMS Terror in polar waters, NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with novelist Dan Simmons, author of The Terror a fictionalized account of the wreck of HMS Terror and Erebus.

National

Documenting The History Of African-Americans In The California Gold Rush

5:12pm September 17, 2016

by Nathan Rott

The history of African-Americans and the California Gold Rush is a complicated one, and often overlooked. But it's part of the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.