American history

  • Washington, Genealogy, and America250

    Washington, Genealogy, and America250

    This year marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. You might hear it called a semiquincentennial, bisesquicentennial, or simply America250. Many states are celebrating this anniversary in different ways. For many of those interested in genealogy and family history, we’re looking back at what our ancestors were doing in 1776.  How many generations do you need to go back to find your… Continue reading

  • Happy Black History Month 2024: Celebrating African Americans and the Arts

    Happy Black History Month 2024: Celebrating African Americans and the Arts

    Though we celebrate the accomplishments of the people of the African and Black Diaspora all year, every February provides an opportunity to focus on and highlight the history and contributions of African Americans. Black History Month has a different theme each year, and 2024’s theme is African Americans and the Arts. There is not enough… Continue reading

  • The Negro Motorist Green Book Exhibition: March 19 – June 12, 2022

    The Negro Motorist Green Book exhibition opens this Saturday, March 19, at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. This immersive, multimedia exhibit was curated by Candacy Taylor, former Harvard fellow and celebrated Green Book scholar, for the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service. The Green Book was published between 1936 and 1966 and became the… Continue reading

  • The Vietnam War: Essential Accounts

    There is no single story of the Vietnam War. In our second of four lists commemorating the premiere of Ken Burns’ and Lynn Novick’s ten part documentary series on the Vietnam War, we feature twenty-five memoirs and personal accounts of the War and its aftermath, representing a wide array of experiences and voices. Here are some highlights. Continue reading

  • The Vietnam War: Essential History

    As our city and our nation tunes in to the premiere presentation of Ken Burns’ and Lynn Novick’s ten part documentary series on the Vietnam War, interest is spiking in books and films that explore the War and the era from all angles. In the first of a four part series featuring lists including one hundred… Continue reading

  • Book Bingo: A Book You Own, but Have Never Read

     – Posted by Sarah W. This summer The Seattle Public Library, in partnership with Seattle Arts & Lectures, is excited to offer a summer reading program for adults called Summer Book Bingo! In order to help you along on your quest to complete your bingo sheet, we have pulled together some book suggestions based on each category. Follow… Continue reading

  • Learning history from comic books

     I didn’t think I was a fan of comic books, but after reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, my view of comic books completely changed.”I found that the comic book format particularly makes learning history more enjoyable due to its lively pictures and brief narrative. I recently read three American history comic books that I happened… Continue reading

  • About Time: Shaping the Nation

    1776 by David McCullough Pulitzer prize winning historian McCullough brings a fresh perspective to a pivotal and turbulent year in our country’s founding, focusing on the two famous Georges as well as the troops on both sides. Ladies of Liberty: The Women who Shaped our Nation by Cokie Roberts Based on personal letters and journals,… Continue reading

  • About Time: Discovering America

    1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann Recent research upends our previously held notions, showing that the pre-Columbian Americas were more densely populated and the Native cultures and governments more sophisticated than we had once imagined. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick A fresh look at… Continue reading