The four works described below, all written by Black Philadelphia women, appear in my new anthology, “A Black Philadelphia Reader: African American Writings about the City of Brotherly Love.” I’m a professor…
Tag: History
Records of Pompeii’s survivors have been found – and archaeologists are starting to understand how they rebuilt their lives
On Aug. 24, in A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, shooting over 3 cubic miles of debris up to 20 miles (32.1 kilometers) in the air. As the ash and rock fell to…
How the 18th-century ‘probability revolution’ fueled the casino gambling craze
The first commercial gambling operations emerged, coincidentally or not, at the same time as the study of mathematical probability in the mid-1600s. By the early 1700s, commercial gambling operations were widespread in…
What America’s first board game can teach us about the aspirations of a young nation
Board games are booming: In 2023 alone, the industry topped US$16.8 billion and is projected to reach $40.1 billion by 2032. Classics like “Scrabble” are being refreshed and transformed, while newer inventions…
Caitlin Clark’s historic scoring record shines a spotlight on the history of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
When University of Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark drained a 3-pointer against the University of Michigan on Feb. 15, 2024, she secured the NCAA women’s scoring record. Announcers noted that Clark…
Linguists have identified a new English dialect that’s emerging in South Florida
“We got down from the car and went inside.” “I made the line to pay for groceries.” “He made a party to celebrate his son’s birthday.” These phrases might sound off to…
Astrud Gilberto spread bossa nova to a welcoming world – but got little love back in Brazil
Astrud Gilberto didn’t set out to be an ambassador of bossa nova, the laid-back Brazilian musical genre with rhythms recognizable to music lovers around the world. According to Gilberto, who died on…
Historians are learning more about how the Nazis targeted trans people
In the fall of 2022, a German court heard an unusual case. It was a civil lawsuit that grew out of a feud on Twitter about whether transgender people were victims of…
This course explores the long, interrelated history of two ways of seeing the world
Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: Art & Science from Aristotle to Instagram What prompted the idea for the course?…