AMERICA SHAPED
Stories
The moments, words, people and turning points that shaped the United States and influenced the world.
Turning Points↗
The Declaration of Independence: The Document That Turned a Rebellion Into a Nation
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Wars & Conflict↗
How Franz Ferdinand’s Assassination Led to the July Crisis and World War I
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Wars & Conflict↗
Who Started World War II?
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National Shocks↗
How the United States Responded to the Collapse of the Soviet Union
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Wars & Conflict↗
Why America Entered World War I in 1917
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Turning Points↗
Brown v. Board of Education: The Ruling That Changed American Schools
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Wars & Conflict↗
Why Did the United States Invade Iraq in 2003?
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Wars & Conflict↗
Why Did the Korean War Begin?
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Turning Points↗
The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself
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National Shocks↗
George W. Bush and America After 9/11
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Wars & Conflict↗
The Cuban Missile Crisis: 13 Days Near Nuclear War
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Wars & Conflict↗
Alan Turing, Codebreaking, and the Machines That Helped Win World War II
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Wars & Conflict↗
The Korean War and America's Cold War Strategy
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Wars & Conflict↗
How GPS Went From Military Technology to Everyday Life
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Turning Points↗
We Shall Fight on the Beaches and Britain's Defiance
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People & Power↗
The Truman Doctrine and the Beginning of Containment
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Wars & Conflict↗
What Finally Brought America Into World War II?
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People & Power↗
John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis
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Government & Law↗
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
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People & Power↗
Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
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Wars & Conflict↗
Chernobyl: The Nuclear Disaster That Shocked the Cold War World
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Turning Points↗
The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
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America & the World↗
How the United States Became a World Power
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Wars & Conflict↗
D-Day: The Invasion That Changed World War II
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Turning Points↗
The Manhattan Project: America's Secret Decision to Build the Atomic Bomb
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National Shocks↗
9/11: How Four Hijacked Planes Changed the United States
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People & Power↗
Why Harry Truman Decided to Use the Atomic Bomb
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Wars & Conflict↗
NATO: Why the United States Joined a Permanent Military Alliance
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Words That Mattered↗
I Have a Dream: The Speech That Defined a Movement
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Turning Points↗
Wernher von Braun and America's Race to the Moon
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Turning Points↗
The Space Race: Why America Was Determined to Reach the Moon
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Government & Law↗
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
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Turning Points↗
Why Did Hitler Invade Poland in 1939?
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National Shocks↗
September 11, 2001: The Day That Changed America
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National Shocks↗
The Challenger Disaster: 73 Seconds After Liftoff
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Turning Points↗
The Fall of Berlin and the End of Nazi Germany
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Ideas & Movements↗
Martin Luther King Jr. and the Movement That Changed America
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Turning Points↗
How Television Changed American Politics
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Wars & Conflict↗
Lyndon Johnson and America's Escalation in Vietnam
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National Shocks↗
The Hindenburg Disaster: The End of the Airship Era
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Wars & Conflict↗
How America's Arsenal of Democracy Helped Win World War II
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Wars & Conflict↗
The Battle of Midway: How America Turned the Pacific War
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Turning Points↗
The Berlin Airlift: How America Supplied a Blockaded City
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People & Power↗
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
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Wars & Conflict↗
Operation Desert Storm: Why the United States Went to War With Iraq in 1991
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Turning Points↗
Three Mile Island: America's Nuclear Power Scare
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Turning Points↗
Henry Ford and the Assembly Line Revolution
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Wars & Conflict↗
Ronald Reagan and the Final Years of the Cold War
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Wars & Conflict↗
Why Did the United States Enter the Vietnam War?
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America & the World↗
Nikola Tesla and the Electrical System That Powered the Modern World
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Turning Points↗
The Marshall Plan: How America Helped Rebuild Europe
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National Shocks↗
The Deepwater Horizon Disaster
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Turning Points↗
The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the End of an Era
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Wars & Conflict↗
The Zimmermann Telegram: The Message That Helped Push America Into World War I
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National Shocks↗
The Patriot Act: How 9/11 Changed American Law
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Turning Points↗
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You
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National Shocks↗
The Oklahoma City Bombing: America's Deadliest Domestic Terror Attack of Its Era
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Turning Points↗
Hurricane Katrina: When New Orleans Flooded
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Turning Points↗
Thomas Edison and the Inventions That Changed Daily Life
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Wars & Conflict↗
Dwight Eisenhower and the Warning About the Military-Industrial Complex
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Wars & Conflict↗
Who Really Started World War I?
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Turning Points↗
Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall
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Turning Points↗
That's One Small Step for Man
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Wars & Conflict↗
How World War II Changed Life for American Women
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Turning Points↗
A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
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Turning Points↗
Nagasaki: Why Was a Second Atomic Bomb Used?
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Turning Points↗
Executive Order 9066 and Japanese American Internment
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Turning Points↗
J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Man Behind the Atomic Bomb
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Wars & Conflict↗
Ich bin ein Berliner: Kennedy in Cold War Berlin
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Wars & Conflict↗
Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor?
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Wars & Conflict↗
Franklin D. Roosevelt and America's Road Into World War II
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Turning Points↗
The Dust Bowl: America's Environmental Catastrophe
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Turning Points↗
The Great Migration: How Millions of Black Americans Reshaped U.S. Cities
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Turning Points↗
How the Interstate Highway System Changed America
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Turning Points↗
The Wright Brothers and the Birth of Powered Flight
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America & the World↗
The Moon Landing: Why Apollo 11 Mattered to the Entire World
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National Shocks↗
The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
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Turning Points↗
How the Internet Began as a U.S. Defense Research Project
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Wars & Conflict↗
The Lend-Lease Program: How America Armed the Allies Before Entering World War II
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Turning Points↗
Hiroshima: What Happened on August 6, 1945?
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Wars & Conflict↗
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the Escalation of Vietnam
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Turning Points↗
Why the Boston Tea Party Became a Turning Point
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Turning Points↗
The Boston Massacre: What Happened Before the Gunfire?
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Turning Points↗
Paul Revere’s Ride: The Story Beyond the Legend
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America at War↗
Lexington and Concord: How the Fighting Began
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Turning Points↗
Why Thomas Paine’s Common Sense Was So Powerful
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Turning Points↗
Why July 4 Became America’s Independence Day
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America at War↗
Washington Crosses the Delaware: A Risky Christmas Offensive
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America at War↗
Valley Forge: How an Army Survived the Winter
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America at War↗
Saratoga: The Victory That Helped Bring France into the War
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America at War↗
Yorktown: How a British Army Became Trapped
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America at War↗
Benedict Arnold: How a Patriot Became a Traitor
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America at War↗
The Culper Spy Ring: Washington’s Secret Intelligence Network
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America at War↗
Women Who Kept the American Revolution Running
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America at War↗
Black Soldiers and the Fight for American Independence
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Turning Points↗
Why the Articles of Confederation Struggled to Hold America Together
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Turning Points↗
Shays’ Rebellion and the Fear of a Fragile Republic
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Turning Points↗
The Great Compromise: How Congress Got Two Chambers
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Turning Points↗
Why the Bill of Rights Was Added to the Constitution
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Turning Points↗
Why George Washington Walked Away from Power
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People & Power↗
The Election of 1800: When the Presidency Went to the House
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People & Power↗
The Louisiana Purchase: Why Jefferson Took the Deal
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People & Power↗
The Duel Between Hamilton and Burr
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America at War↗
When British Troops Burned Washington in 1814
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People & Power↗
The Monroe Doctrine: A Warning with Lasting Consequences
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People & Power↗
The Election of 1824 and the “Corrupt Bargain” Accusation
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People & Power↗
Andrew Jackson’s War on the National Bank
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People & Power↗
John Tyler and the Uncertain Rules of Presidential Succession
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People & Power↗
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: One Vote from Removal
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People & Power↗
The Disputed Election of 1876
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People & Power↗
How Garfield’s Assassination Helped Spur Civil Service Reform
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People & Power↗
Theodore Roosevelt and the Fight Against Corporate Power
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People & Power↗
The 1912 Election: When a Former President Ran Again
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People & Power↗
Why FDR Broke the Two-Term Tradition
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People & Power↗
The Court-Packing Plan That Backfired on FDR
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People & Power↗
Truman’s 1948 Victory and the Newspaper That Got It Wrong
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People & Power↗
The Kennedy–Nixon Debates and the Rise of Television Politics
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People & Power↗
Why Gerald Ford Pardoned Richard Nixon
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People & Power↗
The 25th Amendment: What Happens When a President Cannot Serve?
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
The Missouri Compromise and the Battle over Slavery’s Expansion
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
The Fugitive Slave Act and the Risks of Seeking Freedom
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Harriet Tubman’s Missions on the Underground Railroad
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Frederick Douglass: From Enslavement to National Influence
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
How Uncle Tom’s Cabin Entered the Slavery Debate
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Bleeding Kansas: Violence Before the Civil War
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Dred Scott: The Supreme Court Decision That Deepened the Divide
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Fort Sumter: The Opening Shots of the Civil War
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Why the Battle of Bull Run Shocked the North
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Antietam: America’s Bloodiest Day of Battle
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
What the Emancipation Proclamation Did—and Did Not Do
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Gettysburg: Why Pickett’s Charge Failed
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Vicksburg: The Siege That Opened the Mississippi
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
The 54th Massachusetts and the Assault on Fort Wagner
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Sherman’s March to the Sea: War Beyond the Battlefield
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Appomattox: What Lee’s Surrender Meant
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Lincoln’s Assassination: The Events at Ford’s Theatre
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
Juneteenth: Why June 19 Became a Day of Freedom
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Civil War & Reconstruction↗
The Freedmen’s Bureau and the Unfinished Work of Reconstruction
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America & the World↗
The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Who Made the Journey Possible?
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America & the World↗
Sacagawea: Separating Her Role from the Legend
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America & the World↗
The Trail of Tears: Forced Removal and Its Human Cost
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America & the World↗
The Alamo: How a Defeat Became a Symbol
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America at War↗
The Mexican-American War and the Redrawing of the Map
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America & the World↗
The California Gold Rush: Who Actually Got Rich?
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America & the World↗
The Oregon Trail: What Families Carried West
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America & the World↗
The Donner Party: How a Westward Journey Became a Disaster
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America & the World↗
The Homestead Act: The Promise and Limits of Free Land
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America & the World↗
Chinese Workers and the Transcontinental Railroad
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America & the World↗
The Golden Spike: What the Railroad Connected—and Divided
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America & the World↗
The Pony Express: Why a Short-Lived Service Became Famous
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America & the World↗
Little Bighorn: What Happened to Custer’s Command?
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America & the World↗
The Near Destruction of the American Bison
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America & the World↗
The Dawes Act and the Loss of Tribal Land
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America & the World↗
Wounded Knee, 1890: The Events Behind the Massacre
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America & the World↗
Black Cowboys and the History Hollywood Often Overlooked
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America & the World↗
The Real Life of a Cattle-Drive Cowboy
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America & the World↗
The Oklahoma Land Runs: Opportunity Built on Dispossession
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America & the World↗
Native American Boarding Schools: The Policy Behind Family Separation
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America at War↗
The Harlem Hellfighters and the Fight for Recognition
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