Enemies of the State
America has always discriminated in the name of national security. It’s just gotten better at pretending it’s not.
Kanye’s Brand of “Freethinking” Has a Long, Awful HistoryHis condemnation of enslaved people’s failure to rebel is drawn from a dangerous ideology that’s older than the United States.
Who Does She Stand For?As the Statue of Liberty turned 100, our long battle over immigration was having its moment in Reagan’s America.
A Coup in North CarolinaHow white supremacists overthrew Wilmington’s legally elected city government.
A Radical Right to HappinessThe 19th-century fight over theatergoing that revolutionized human rights.
The Roots of Jim CrowHow the Supreme Court failed to protect Black Americans’ hard-won rights of citizenship during Reconstruction.
What Killed Thanksgiving Puddings?The savory treat was once a major part of the American diet until a backlash against “mixed” foods began to brew.
How Andrew Johnson Doomed the Roanoke Island Freedmen’s ColonyAmid flailing efforts to secure land for former slaves, the new president ruthlessly prioritized Confederate resettlement over the advancement of freed people.
How Homesteading FailedAfter Emancipation, it was circumstance—not citizenship—that enabled freedmen in Klan-run Alabama to acquire the land they had worked in bondage.
Introducing ReconstructionOur new Slate Academy finds the seeds of our present politics in the period after the Civil War.
The Nazis Were Obsessed With MagicWhat can their fascination with the supernatural teach us about life in our own post-truth times?
The Yakima TerrorNinety years ago in Washington, a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment resulted in horror for Filipinos.
Tools of DisplacementHow Charlottesville, Virginia’s Confederate statues helped decimate the city’s historically successful black communities.
Watching the DetectivesAs the Waldorf Astoria transforms into posh condos, there’s one luxury amenity it’s unlikely to get back: its intrepid in-house sleuths.
The Secret Cohesion of White SupremacistsOur failure to understand white power as a broader social movement has prevented us from combating it.
“They Were Assumed to Be Puppets of Martin Luther King Jr.”For decades, we’ve been replaying the same absurd partisan debate over whether to take high school activism seriously.
The Oppressor’s BookshelfAs formerly enslaved Americans battled to become literate, the only books available to them were written by white supremacists and condescending abolitionists.
A Revolution Comes HomeHow wage relations evolved after emancipation compelled slave owners to pay the domestic workers they had once enslaved.
What It TakesThe freedmen and Radical Republicans who managed to win power in local governments during Reconstruction.
“Angry, Scared, Armed People”The Nov. 4 conspiracy theory about antifa has some scary historical echoes.
What Happened to the Plantations?How freedpeople pursued the dream of land ownership during Reconstruction, and how they were denied.
A Timeline of ReconstructionA Slate Academy guide to the key events that defined America from 1863 through 1883.
Dismantled but Not DestroyedOne alternative to tearing down Confederate monuments: creatively repurposing them.
The Shame of RikersThe odious 19th-century history of Rikers Island provides just one more good reason to shut it down.
What Is the Far Right’s Endgame? A Society That Suppresses the Majority.Nancy MacLean, author of an intellectual biography of James McGill Buchanan, explains how this little-known libertarian’s work is influencing modern-day politics.
Paranoia Rises When We Feel Politically PowerlessWhen we stop trusting the government, we start believing in conspiracies.