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Special Report

Untold Stories of American History

Explore the lives of little-known changemakers who left their mark on the country


Illustration by Meilan Solly / Photos via Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The American Yawp Vol. II: Since 1877, Getty Images
The New Jersey Morning Call said Billy Possum had “a head that is likely to give a baby [a] nightmare.”

How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America's National Toy

“Here … we claim the first blow was struck in the war of independence,” wrote Salem historian Charles Moses Endicott in his account of Leslie's Retreat.

Was This Little-Known Standoff Between British Soldiers and Colonists the Real Start of the American Revolution?

William Henry Ellis traveled the world, made and lost millions, tried his hand at Texas politics, consulted with emperors, and met with the presidents of multiple countries.

Born Enslaved, This Black Millionaire Attempted to Colonize Mexico and Aspired to Be the Emperor of Ethiopia

More Stories

A Harper's Weekly illustration of Confederate soldiers driving Black Americans south in 1862

HISTORY

After Confederate Forces Captured Their Children, These Black Mothers Fought to Reunite Their Families

Robert Colby

Herbert O. Yardley claimed that the Black Chamber deciphered more than 45,000 diplomatic code and cipher telegrams of foreign governments between 1917 and 1929.

HISTORY

The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the Black Chamber, One of America's First Code-Breaking Organizations

Peter Zablocki

An 1812 illustration of a private from the Fifth West India Regiment. In the 1790s, the remaining members of the Carolina Corps became part of the newly established First West India Regiment.

HISTORY

These Black Soldiers Fought for the British During the American Revolution in Exchange for Freedom From Slavery

Kinsey Gidick

Alice Beatrice Rhinelander, née Jones (seated at center), looks at her father, George Jones, as they await the verdict in the Rhinelander v. Rhinelander case.

HISTORY

How an Interracial Marriage Sparked One of the Most Scandalous Trials of the Roaring Twenties

Bryan Greene

The memorial artwork hadn't been seen since the 1970s, when it was placed on a replica of Kennedy's gravesite in Upperville, Virginia.

HISTORY

A Secret Sculpture Built for John F. Kennedy's Grave Vanished in the 1970s. Half a Century Later, the Mystery Has Been Solved

Ellen Wexler

An 1860 photo of New-York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, who challenged President Ulysses S. Grant in the 1872 election

HISTORY

This Defeated Presidential Candidate, Once the 'Best-Known Man in America,' Died in a Sanatorium Less Than a Month After Losing the Election

Greg Daugherty

The 31-star Perry flag is visible in the background of this photo, which shows United States General Douglas MacArthur signing the official Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.

HISTORY

To Mark Japan's Surrender at the End of World War II, This Navy Officer Raced Halfway Around the World With a Historic Flag in Tow

Peter Zablocki

A grand jury tasked with investigating the riots argued that the violence outside Peekskill “was basically neither antisemitic nor anti-Negro in character.”

HISTORY

The Peekskill Riots Revealed the Racism and Antisemitism Hidden Beneath the Surface of the Anti-Communist Movement

Matthew Schuerman

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