history





Boston Marriage in Old Atlanta: An iPhone rings a silent Bell

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A forgotten poet was resurrected by AT&T, which normally can’t raise a signal much less the dead. But with a little smartphone gumshoeing, I had deciphered an enduring lesbionic relationship hidden in plain sight in the middle of Atlanta’s staunchest Rebel cemetery. It was like a gay Da Vinci Code!


Lovely luncheon by General Worth’s tomb

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Near the northwest corner of Madison Square Park, in an concrete traffic triangle bordered by Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 25th Street, a squat obelisk is encircled by an iron fence. You’ll never believe what lies inside.


The Modern Minstrels

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We don’t need minstrel shows or vaudeville now. We have YouTube. Are Sweet Brown and Antoine Dodson the newest version of the old minstrel show?



Manzanar, where decent Americans were destroyed [WATCH]

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The history of the United States could fairly viewed as a succession of excuses for not living up to its contractual obligations. All men were not created equal, according to the Declaration of Independence: Slaves were allowed. The Supreme Court said the Cherokees were a sovereign nation: The South took their land anyway. Every citizen… Read more »


The mass grave under Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park [WATCH]

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I am tremendously excited about this video that I researched and hosted for AOL On’s “What Remains” series. It takes off from my popular blog post about the mass grave in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park. I think the broadcast-quality production these guys put together is phenomenal. The short version is explained in my post, linked… Read more »


Scenes from the dedication of the FDR memorial in New York City

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In a way, the monument is as much to Louis Kahn as it is to FDR, as proven by how many times each of the speakers invoked both of their names. Former President Bill Clinton, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Tom Brokaw, Ambassador William vanden Huevel, Mayor Michel Bloomberg. All nodded to Louie. It’s odd: The son’s impetus to memorialize his architect father is what led us, even enabled us, to memorialize the president. From small questions rise large deeds.