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Displaced Japanese Canadians leaving the Vancouver area (possibly Slocan Valley) after being prohibited by law from entering a “protected area” within 100 miles of the coast. The woman on the left in this Leonard Frank photograph holding the book is Nobuko Morimoto, the woman in dark cardigan is Tei Terashita, and the young woman leaning out of train is identified as Kazuyo Kawabata.
war history

How Japanese Canadians Survived Internment and Dispossession

A new exhibit traces the experiences of seven narrators before, during, and after World War II.
Jessica Leigh Hester October 16, 2020
festivals

The Festival That Celebrates Anti-Colonial Struggle in Cameroon

On and around Mount Djim, the Nizà’à people tell the story of finding refuge and fighting back.
Adrienne Surprenant October 16, 2020
The First Baptist Church was torn down in 1957 and replaced by a parking lot.
churches

One of America’s First Black Churches is Being Excavated in Virginia

The First Baptist Church was a spiritual home for free and enslaved African Americans.
Isaac Schultz October 15, 2020
Meknes, Morocco

Prison de Kara

Designed as a labyrinth, this subterranean prison was crafted without bars or doors.
Saddam Hussein's face decorates the door of a gold shop in the Jabal Amman neighborhood of Amman. The owner, Adeeb, says his father studied in Baghdad before returning to Jordan and joining the intelligence service.
art

The Country That Still Considers Saddam Hussein a Hero

The dictator's face crops up on cars, playing cards, watches, and even Instagram.
Jason Ruffin October 14, 2020
These muskrat bones were found among hundreds of other bones on the Bayly property. Muskrat remains popular in Dorchester County.
food

A Historical Dig Sheds Light on the Food of the Underground Railroad

Archaeologists found muskrat, turtle, and other edible remains in Harriet Tubman Country.
Reina Gattuso October 14, 2020
Behind some drywall emerged the building's long-forgotten original elevator.
architecture

Behind the Walls of a Sports Bar, Remnants of Florida's Early Years

How do you lose an entire elevator?
Luna Shyr October 13, 2020
1960s-era photos show the structure being swallowed by dunes.
deserts

The Art of Digging a Buried Building Out of Maine's Desert Dunes

The Spring House had been hidden for decades.
Jessica Leigh Hester October 8, 2020
Wallis turned all of this code into written sentences.
mathematics

Sold: 53 Letters Deciphered by a Groundbreaking English Codebreaker

Cagey about his methods, John Wallis was a bit of a cipher himself.
Matthew Taub October 7, 2020
List

10 Places to See Silicon Valley History IRL

A low-tech look at the origins of high tech.
Anne Ewbank October 7, 2020
Long touted as a health food, grapefruit has a dark side.
science

Grapefruit Is One of the Weirdest Fruits on the Planet

From its name, to its hazy origins, to its drug interactions, there's a lot going on beneath that thick rind.
Dan Nosowitz October 6, 2020
Sandaga Market in December 2019, before the government relocated vendors and started to demolish informal stalls. Many of these vendors are selling clothing, but one blows bubbles from toys for sale.
architecture

The Fight to Save One of Dakar's Most Distinctive Markets

In a city full of French colonial influence, Marché Sandaga was built in a uniquely West African style.
Ricci Shryock October 5, 2020
The Höglund Dugout
Lindsborg, Kansas

The Höglund Dugout

This mid-19th-century dugout was once home to a Swedish family as they erected their homestead.
Qvevri are buried at Castle Hill Cider; in the country of Georgia, clay vessels like these have been used to ferment wine for thousands of years.
history

The Cider Makers Who Bury Their Booze

A Virginia cidery has adapted an 8,000-year-old winemaking method.
Eric J. Wallace October 1, 2020
Faro della Vittoria (Victory Lighthouse)
Trieste, Italy

Faro della Vittoria (Victory Lighthouse)

One of the tallest lighthouses in the world also serves as a monument to the fallen of World War I.
Slave Market Memorial
Zanzibar, Tanzania

Slave Market Memorial

This monument is a stark reminder of the horrors of the Zanzibar slave trade.
All indications are that the coast was mapped from the sea, in secret.
objects of intrigue

How a Secret Map Brought Down a Pirate Alliance on the Irish Coast

Now archaeologists are using it to search for evidence of clandestine activity.
Erin Mullally September 29, 2020
Tarpeian Rock
Rome, Italy

Tarpeian Rock

In the early Roman Empire, people deemed traitors and criminals were tossed to their deaths from this rock.