History

In less than 100 years, thousands upon thousands of diamondback terrapins had succumbed to the American appetite, depleting the species.

Environment

Our Taste For Turtle Soup Nearly Wiped Out Terrapins. Then Prohibition Saved Them

1:56pm July 18, 2019

by Shoshi Parks

By the turn of the 20th century, America's love affair with diamondback terrapin soup — a subsistence food turned gourmet fare — had left the turtle's population teetering. Booze ban to the rescue.

American aerospace engineer John Houbolt as he stands at a chalkboard in July 1962 showing his lunar orbit rendezvous plan for landing astronauts on the moon.

Science

Meet John Houbolt: He Figured Out How To Go To The Moon, But Few Were Listening

8:00am July 18, 2019

by Scott Neuman

In the early 1960s, NASA was considering three different ideas for landing a man on the lunar surface. Houbolt's plan ultimately won out despite concerns within NASA that it was too risky.

In the summer of 1927, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston drove together from Alabama to New York. Just outside Savannah, Ga., they gave a ride to a young person running away from a chain gang. An essay Hughes wrote about that encounter has recently r

Books
Arts

In Lost Essay, Langston Hughes Recounts Meeting A Young Chain Gang Runaway

6:02pm July 17, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

The work, previously published only in Russian, was discovered by Professor Steven Hoelscher. The encounter occurred in 1927, when Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston went on a road trip through the South.

Queue Listen Now

'Escalante's Dream' Retraces The Steps Of The 'Spanish Lewis And Clark'

10:45am July 17, 2019

by Carson Vaughan

After a cancer diagnosis, author and noted mountaineer David Roberts sets out on the trail of Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, remaining dutiful to the route some 240 years later.

Adolf Eichmann, standing in a glass booth and flanked by guards, in the Jerusalem courtroom during his trial in 1961 for war crimes committed during World War II.

World News

The Doctor Who Helped Israeli Spies Catch Eichmann But Refused Recognition For It

7:01pm July 16, 2019

by Daniel Estrin

Yonah Elian played a key part in spiriting Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann out of Argentina to stand trial in Israel. His family couldn't understand why he never spoke about the heroic role he served.

A now-closed Irish pub in Lawrence, Mass., displayed an old "Help Wanted/No Irish Need Apply" — a common sight across the country in the mid-1800s.

Politics & Government

With Latest Nativist Rhetoric, Trump Takes America Back To Where It Came From

4:29pm July 16, 2019

by Ron Elving

By repeating that these immigrants are "not ... you," the president defined them as "the other" in stark terms. The battle lines could not be more clear in a conflict nearly as old as America itself.

Queue Listen Now

At a ceremony Monday at the White House, President Trump defended his racist tweets against Democratic lawmakers. The language used in that tweet has a long history connected with nativist political movements in the U.S.

'Go Back Where You Came From': The Long Rhetorical Roots Of Trump's Racist Tweets

9:26pm July 15, 2019

When the president told several young congresswomen of color to "go back" to where they came from, he borrowed nativist language about as old as the country itself. Here's a little history.

ICE Arrests Undocumented Immigrants In NYC

Politics & Government

Fear In America: From ICE Raids To Racist Tweets

5:35pm July 15, 2019

What effect does the repeated threat of raids by Immigration And Customs Enforcement have on communities? And how do the president's racist remarks affect people of color?

Visiting A Historic Mosque In North Dakota

8:26am July 13, 2019

by Leila Fadel

A mosque in the United States was built on a North Dakota prairie in the 1920s. Today the descendants of those families share that history with new American Muslims.

Encore: Billie Holiday's Grave

8:26am July 13, 2019

by Elizabeth Blair

Singer Billie Holiday died 60 years ago next week. For nearly a year, she had no tombstone until fans rallied to make sure Lady Day's final resting place was properly marked.