History

Newton Minow on the history and future of presidential debates
Newton Minow speaks about the history and future of presidential debates in the “Discourse Disrupters” series from Intelligence Squared.
152-year-old landmark Lanesboro Dam gets a makeover
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Thursday to celebrate the rehabilitation of the Lanesboro Dam, a project that’s been in the works for a decade
Senators push for Medal of Honor for late Black medic who saved lives at Normandy
Cpl. Waverly Woodson Jr., a member of an African American battalion, treated scores of soldiers wounded on D-Day but was passed over for the medal. Lawmakers and relatives have tried to change that.
Minnesota shipwreck hunters locate long-sought Lake Michigan wreck
More than a century ago, the Pere Marquette 18 started taking on water while crossing Lake Michigan, and jettisoned its cargo of rail cars into the lake in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. It sank with the loss of more than two dozen lives and the wreck site had eluded searchers for decades — until two Minnesotans found it this summer.
Labor Day special: MPR documentary, 'The Strike is On'
The MPR documentary, “The Strike is On,” an oral history of the early labor movement in Minnesota, with emphasis on the struggle to organize Iron Range workers, the Minneapolis truckers strike of 1934, and more.
Remembering civil rights activist Anna Arnold Hedgeman of Anoka
Most Minnesotans don't know that a Black woman who grew up in Anoka — Anna Arnold Hedgeman — was the only woman on the organizing committee for the 1963 March on Washington. She was a longtime activist for civil rights and social justice — but has been mostly forgotten. 2018 History Forum lecture by Thomas Sugrue of NYU about her and other civil rights activists in the north.
How to change how we teach history
A historian and an education policy scholar walk us through the problems with how we teach history in this country and how to improve curriculum.
Suffrage anniversary commemorations highlight racial divide
As the U.S. marks the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, many event organizers have been careful to present it as a commemoration, not a celebration. That's because when the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, it was mostly white women who benefited.