History

Books
Arts

Famine Ship Jeanie Johnston Sailed Through Grim Odds

7:48pm March 17, 2013

by NPR Staff

In the mid-19th century, more than a million Irish fled the potato famine in search of a better life. But the fate they met aboard so-called "coffin ships" headed to the New World was often as bad as what they left behind. Not so for those lucky enough to find their way onto one ship. Kathryn Miles tells the story in her book, All Standing.

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The nation's last coal-burning ferry, the SS Badger, sits on Lake Michigan in the port town of Ludington, Mich. The EPA permit that has long allowed the ship to dump coal ash into the lake is now under review.

Steamship Anchors A Community, But Its Days May Be Numbered

5:50pm March 04, 2013

by Noah Adams

The nation's last coal-fired ferry has been traversing Lake Michigan from the town of Ludington, Mich., since 1953. An EPA permit allowing the Badger to dump several tons of coal ash into the lake daily is now under review, which could mean big changes for the small town's culture and economy.

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Religion

Who Gets Religious Exemptions And Why

5:10pm February 21, 2013

Under revised rules of the Affordable Care Act, religious groups can be exempt from paying their employees' insurance coverage for birth control. Religious exemptions are nearly as old as the nation and have been on the rise in recent decades.

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WBT radio's bomb shelter in Charlotte, N.C., part of a government-funded emergency communications network, as it looked in 1963.

Cold War Bunker Network Repurposed For 21st Century Threats

6:42pm February 19, 2013

by Julie Rose

In Charlotte, N.C., a secret bunker rests quietly below a radio station. Built in 1963, it was part of a federal network designed to provide emergency communications in case of a nuclear attack. With a new slew of potential threats to contend with, FEMA has revived the idea.

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The Baby Doll Ladies pose during Mardi Gras in New Orleans on Tuesday.

National

The 'Baby Dolls' Of Mardi Gras: A Fun Tradition With A Serious Side

1:17pm February 19, 2013

by Tina Antolini

The baby dolls were born from racial segregation in New Orleans in 1912. A group of African-American prostitutes decided to express themselves through dance and costumes, challenging taboo by parading during Mardi Gras.

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Is Honest Abe's Stovepipe Hat A Fake?

10:06am February 16, 2013

by Scott Simon

State officials in Illinois want to conduct DNA tests on the top hat on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum to see if he ever really wore it. Museum officials think the idea is worse than bad.

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Now 59, George Prendes works as a telemarketer in New York and struggles to make the rent on his small Bronx apartment.

National

Decades On, Stiff Drug Sentence Leaves A Life 'Dismantled'

1:11pm February 15, 2013

by Brian Mann

George Prendes was 23 when he was sentenced under New York's Rockefeller drug laws — tough mandatory sentencing guidelines for nonviolent drug crimes. The 15 years Prendes served for a drug transaction still reverberate for him and his family.

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'Klansville, U.S.A.' Chronicles The Rise And Fall Of The KKK

5:30pm February 14, 2013

by NPR Staff

Author and sociologist David Cunningham speaks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the origins of cross burnings and white hoods, and why North Carolina had more Klan members during the height of the civil rights movement than all other Southern states combined.

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A part of the Isaiah Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, is seen inside the vault of the Shrine of the Book building at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

'Dead Sea Scrolls' Live On In Debate And Discovery

4:42pm February 14, 2013

In a new book, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography, religious scholar and author John J. Collins tells the history of the scrolls and the controversies they have prompted, and explores the questions they ask and answer about Judeo-Christian history.

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World News

What's To Learn From King Richard III

2:03pm February 13, 2013

Since the recent discovery and ID of Richard III's bones under a Leicester parking lot, historians have been debating his legacy. Was Richard really the evil despot that Shakespeare made him out to be? Or was the real Richard a sensible domestic leader and the victim of a classic family struggle?

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