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Archive: July 2022 (4 Posts)

Mapping the Gangs of Chicago

Posted by: Meagan Snow

When Prohibition became law across the United States in 1920, legitimate businesses were no longer allowed to serve alcohol, paving the way for illegal speakeasies and related underground businesses. In Chicago, this meant that criminals like Al Capone and Johnny Torrio fought for control of illegal alcohol distribution within the city, sparking an infamous decade …

Map of Krakatau and surrounding islands

The Unmaking of an Island

Posted by: Amelia Raines

The dramatic eruption of Krakatoa (or Krakatau in Indonesian) in 1883 was, as our sister blog Headlines and Heroes describes it, “one of the first global catastrophes.” By its very destruction, this small Indonesian island was thrust onto the world stage, its name becoming almost shorthand for volcanic disaster. Geologist Rogier Verbeek, who had briefly …

The earliest extant plan of Washington DC, known as "The L'Enfant Plan" with annotations of editorial changes by Thomas Jefferson.

Francophone Folly in the Capital City

Posted by: Carissa Pastuch

Last Monday Americans gathered again after a two-year hiatus to celebrate America’s independence from Great Britain. Flags and fireworks flew over our nation’s capital to mark the anniversary of when the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776), which announced the colonies’ separation from Great Britain, and precipitated the American …