Latest Posts
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The Forest Was Not Empty: Fire, Native Stewardship, and the Myth of Wilderness
Pull up a chair, let’s talk history. In 1634, William Wood described forests in New England with little underbrush. He did not attribute their open character to untouched nature. Native people, he explained, burned the woods after the growing season.… Continue reading
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Three Revolutions, One Soldier: Louis-Marie de Noailles and the Limits of Liberty
Pull up a chair, let’s talk history. On January 7, 1804, Louis-Marie, Viscount de Noailles, died in Havana from wounds suffered while capturing a British vessel. Six days earlier, Haitian leaders had declared independence from France. Noailles had spent his… Continue reading
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What Caused the American Revolution? A Question Historians Keep Rewriting
Pull up a chair, let’s talk history. On December 29, 1925, Charles McLean Andrews stood before the American Historical Association in Ann Arbor and returned to a familiar question. What caused the American Revolution? The timing was deliberate. The United… Continue reading
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Two Roads from Mount Vernon: William Lee, Harry Washington, and Revolutionary Freedom
Pull up a chair, let’s talk history. In July 1784, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to a Philadelphia merchant about a family matter that was not Washington’s own. William Lee, the man who had served as his valet throughout… Continue reading
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Why Early America Distrusted Secret Societies
Pull up a chair, let’s talk history. On December 5, 1776, five students from the College of William & Mary gathered in the Apollo Room of Raleigh Tavern. The Continental Army had recently retreated across New Jersey, Congress had fled… Continue reading
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Two Powhatan Women and the Virginia Company’s Marriage Plans
Pull up a chair, let’s talk history. On June 11, 1621, the Virginia Company of London considered what to do about two Indigenous women whose support was costing it money. Mr. Webb wanted the company relieved of the weekly expense.… Continue reading
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Before Brown: The Students Who Challenged Segregated Universities
Pull up a chair, let’s talk history. In 1948, George McLaurin gained admission to the University of Oklahoma’s graduate program in education. The university then required him to sit at a desk in an adjoining room, separated from his classmates.… Continue reading
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The Lost Colony of Roanoke: What the Evidence Actually Suggests
Pull up a chair; let’s talk history. When John White stepped ashore on Roanoke Island in August 1590, he found an abandoned settlement. The houses had disappeared. A defensive palisade stood where the colonists had lived. One tree bore the… Continue reading
