Donald Thornton was a ditchdigger who wanted more for his six daughters, saying: "I love you better than I love life," he assured his children. "But I'm not always gonna be around to look after you, and no man's gonna come along and ...

Noted historian Martha A. Sandweiss tells the uniquely American story of Clarence King, a man who hid from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family the fact that he lived a double life---as the celebrated white explorer, geologist,...

From 1920 to 1940, the Harlem Renaissance produced a bright beacon of light that paved the way for African Americans all over the country. The unapologetic writings of W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, the fervent fiction and poetry...