History

Caro Verbeek speaks on the TEDx stage in Gronigen, Netherlands.

Science
Arts

Caro Verbeek: What Can The Scents Of The Past Tell Us About Our History?

9:39am January 15, 2021

by NPR/TED Staff

Each day, we breathe about 22,000 times--and all that time we smell. Scent historian Caro Verbeek recreates scents of the past. She says, just like music and art, smell is a part of our heritage.

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A young Clara Jean Ester graduated from Memphis State College, now known as the University of Memphis. Now, Ester is a retired organizer and Methodist deaconess in Mobile, Ala.

National

'I May Not Get There With You': An Eyewitness Account Of MLK's Final Days

8:07am January 15, 2021

by Abe Selby

Clara Jean Ester was a college student in 1968 when she saw Martin Luther King Jr. give his final speech. A day later, Ester was at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., when he was assassinated.

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Books
Arts

'Black Radical' Traces The Life And Legacy Of Activist William Monroe Trotter

1:33pm January 13, 2021

by Dave Davies

Trotter was a Black newspaper editor in the early 20th century who advocated for civil rights by organizing mass protests. Historian Kerri Greenidge tells his story in her new book.

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Babe Ruth, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, in 1918. That year, World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic slashed MLB game attendance by over half from what it was in the previous season.

What 1919 Teaches Us About Pent-Up Demand

6:31am January 12, 2021

by Greg Rosalsky

A hundred years ago, a world war and a pandemic wreaked havoc on baseball and other industries. But pent-up demand helped them come roaring back.

National

How Legitimate Forms Of Protest Are Distinguished From Treason

5:12pm January 11, 2021

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with historian John Reeves about the history of treason in the United States and what that word means today.

Journalist Neil Sheehan, pictured at the time as a reporter for UPI, died recently at the age of 84.

Books

Opinion: Remembering Journalist And Friend Neil Sheehan

2:09pm January 09, 2021

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the life and work of famed reporter Neil Sheehan who obtained the Pentagon Papers. Sheehan died this week at the age of 84.

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National

Katherine Jackson French's Ballad Collection Published 110 Years Later

5:38pm January 05, 2021

by Stephanie Wolf

Katherine Jackson French traveled the Kentucky mountains in the early 1900s searching for traditional ballads that were disappearing. Her work was never published — until now.

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Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding, by Daniel E. Lieberman

'Exercised' Explains Why It Can Be Hard To Commit To Working Out — And Why We Should

10:29am January 05, 2021

by Barbara J. King

Harvard University's Daniel Lieberman looks at exercise from an evolutionary point of view, concluding that we evolved to limit our physical activity where possible, saving it for survival activities.

The final restoration project by the nonprofit Advancing Women Artists group features works by Violante Ferroni, an 18th century prodigy about whom little is known today.

'Where Are The Women?': Uncovering The Lost Works Of Female Renaissance Artists

1:35pm January 02, 2021

by Sylvia Poggioli

A nonprofit has identified 2,000 works by women artists that had been stashed in Italy's public museums and damp churches. It's also supported restoration of 70 works from the 16th to 20th centuries.

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Arts

More Works Of Art Enter The Public Domain On New Year's Day

5:02am January 01, 2021

by Petra Mayer

January 1st is Public Domain Day. That's the day creative works over a certain age enter the public domain.

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