History

Historian Says The U.S. Is 'Losing Hearts And Minds In Afghanistan'

6:07am April 19, 2017

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Aaron O'Connell about his book Our Latest Longest War. O'Connell, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, argues the U.S. is making the same mistakes it made in Vietnam.

World News

War Crimes Archive Reveals Early Evidence Of Holocaust Death Camps

5:32pm April 18, 2017

After almost 70 years, evidence used to prosecute Nazi-era war criminals has become public. NPR's Kelly McEvers talks to Dan Plesch, one of the few outside researchers who's seen this archive.

A New Vote On Brexit Resurfaces Racial Anxieties Among Black Brits

3:41pm April 18, 2017

by Ismail Einashe

Brexit has made many black people question their place in British society, and the snap election may yet heighten their anxiety.

In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was spotted early in the Boston Marathon by race director Jock Semple, who tried to rip the number off her shirt and remove her from the race. Switzer's friends intervened, allowing her to make her getaway to become the first wom

First Woman To Wear A Boston Bib Races Again, 50 Years Later

7:29pm April 17, 2017

by Camila Domonoske

After Kathrine Switzer entered the marathon in 1967 — without telling organizers she was a woman — the race director tried to rip her numbers off. She finished anyway. She ran the race again in 2017.

Mollie Burkhart (second from right) lost all three of her sisters under suspicious circumstances. Rita Smith (left) died in an explosion, Anna Brown (second from left) was shot in the head and Minnie Smith (right) died of what doctors referred to as a "pe

In The 1920s, A Community Conspired To Kill Native Americans For Their Oil Money

3:21pm April 17, 2017

by Steve Inskeep

The Osage tribe in Oklahoma became spectacularly wealthy in the early 1900s — and then members started turning up dead. David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon describes the dark plot against them.

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Religion

A Look Centuries-Old Misconceptions About Mary Magdalene

5:38pm April 16, 2017

by Ray Suarez

Mary Magdalene has been characterized as a prostitute for hundreds of years — which has no basis in the Biblical text. Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak explains why the myth has persisted.

Eggs dyed blood red at the center of the Greek Easter treat known as tsoureki paschalino.

The Key To Cracking Easter Feasts? It's All In The Eggs

7:00am April 15, 2017

by Erica Ryan

In the spring, a cook's fancy turns to thoughts of eggs. They're everywhere at Easter, in breads and pies and children's baskets. Eggs can inspire sugary treats and offer hidden surprises.

Emily Meggett (left) and Isabell Meggett Lucas sit together at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in front of a slave cabin on display that they grew up in.

National

Woman Returns To Her Slave Cabin Childhood Home In The Smithsonian

5:26pm April 14, 2017

by Ari Shapiro

This week, Isabelle Meggett Lucas got to visit her childhood home — in the Smithsonian, which moved the house from South Carolina to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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Nathaniel Martello-White, Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay star in John Ridley's new series Guerilla. The show explores the way humiliation and marginalization can lead to violence.

Arts

Set 40 Years In The Past, 'Guerrilla' Speaks Strongly To Today

6:08am April 14, 2017

by Steve Inskeep

Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley's new series is set in the U.K. during the 1970s, when immigrants of color from former colonies were coming there for work, but finding little opportunity.

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U.S. artist Ryan Mendoza poses for a photo next to the former house of Afro-American human rights figure Rosa Parks on Mendoza's property on April 6, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. Mendoza bought the house, which was slated for demolition in Detroit, took it ap

This Week In Race: A House That Flew Over The Ocean And A Man Who Didn't Get To Fly

5:22am April 14, 2017

You could say it's been a pretty turbulent week on the race beat.