History

Willie Mae Thornton was a foremother of rock. These kids carry her legacy forward

7:55am December 11, 2022

by Allyson McCabe

Women are underrepresented as artists and songwriters and make up less than 3% of credited music producers. For women of color that number is even lower. That's why Willie Mae is so important.

A dozen Black men were convicted of murder by all-white juries in connection with the 1919 massacre in Elaine, Ark. Above, defendants S.A. Jones, Ed Hicks, Frank Hicks, Frank Moore, J.C. Knox, Ed Coleman and Paul Hall with their attorney at the state penitentiary in Little Rock in 1925 after the Supreme Court overturned their convictions.

In 2 U.S. cities haunted by race massacres, facing the past is painful and divisive

7:00am December 11, 2022

by Scott Neuman

Tulsa, Okla., has offered a blueprint, however imperfect, for how to confront a history of racial violence. In neighboring Arkansas, the city of Elaine has found the Tulsa model hard to replicate.

Yuriy Samoilenko stands for a portrait at the headquarters for Green World, an independent environmental advocacy group and the Ukrainian branch of Friends of the Earth International, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 18.

Ukraine still fears another Chernobyl-size disaster at Europe's largest nuclear plant

6:00am December 11, 2022

by Julian Hayda

International atomic experts have warned of a potential nuclear disaster with Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia plant in the middle of a war zone, bringing back terrifying memories of Chernobyl.

A visitor looks at an Advent calendar from 1966 of the former East Germany at a 2008 museum exhibit in Leipzig.

Advent calendars, explained: Where they came from and why they're everywhere now

5:00am December 11, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

What started as a Christmas countdown has increasingly become a retail opportunity. While Advent calendars have evolved over the centuries, they still accomplish some of their original objectives.

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Anya Breus, Oleksandr's sister, launched a search for her brother when the family hadn't heard from him.

World News

There have been 50,000 alleged war crimes in Ukraine. We worked to solve one

9:18am December 10, 2022

by Tim Mak

Investigators in Ukraine have opened more than 50,000 inquiries into alleged Russian war crimes since the war began. NPR looked into the death of one man to show the challenges investigators face.

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A shipwreck from the 1800s turns up on a Florida beach

6:42am December 08, 2022

And erosion from two recent hurricanes exposed it at Daytona Beach Shores, but archeologists say the ship is in such a delicate state that they don't plan to dig it up.

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Jonathan chills on the lawn of Plantation House, the residence of the governor of St. Helena, in October 2017. The world's oldest tortoise is celebrating what is believed to be his 190th birthday this year.

World News

Jonathan, the world's oldest tortoise, marks his 190th with fanfare and salad cake

12:49pm December 07, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

While Jonathan's exact birthday is unknown, it's estimated he was born in 1832 — before the first photograph of a person and the first postage stamp. He's getting lots of well-wishes on St. Helena.

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How the Fantastic Four took Double Dutch to new heights

7:03pm December 04, 2022

by Allyson McCabe

The ties between Double Dutch and hip-hop can be traced to Nelly's "Country Grammar," Missy Elliott's "Gossip Folks" and "Throw It Back," and the Cartoon Network animated series Craig of the Creek.

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Statues at the site of the discovery of two dozen well-preserved bronze statues from an ancient Tuscan thermal spring in San Casciano dei Bagni, Italy on Nov. 3.

World News

Discovery of ancient bronze statues in Italy may rewrite Etruscan and Roman history

5:01am December 03, 2022

by Sylvia Poggioli

The discoveries shed light on what the Italian Culture Ministry calls a "unique multicultural and multilingual haven of peace" between Etruscans and Romans at a time when they were mostly at war.

Arts

'Monuments to the Unthinkable' explores how nations can memorialize their atrocities

1:43pm December 01, 2022

by Dave Davies

In How the Word Is Passed, author Clint Smith explored U.S. sites that deal with the legacy of slavery. Now, in The Atlantic, he writes about German memorials to the Holocaust.

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