AskHistorians

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According to Ta-Nehisi Coates' essay The Case For Reparations, early 20th century Mississippi Governor James K. Vardaman would amuse himself by releasing black convicts into the wilderness and hunting them down with bloodhounds. How widespread was this practice, and how was it seen at the time?	35
Has pseudoscience ever been used to justify India's caste system, in the vein of Western scientific racism? If so, what arguments were used?	23
According to the author Michelle Alexander, some states in the Jim Crow South passed laws "specifically prohibiting blacks and whites from playing chess together." Is this true, and if so, what was the motivation for such a narrow law? Was it ever enforced?	12
According to Wikipedia, lobotomies were used to "cure" homosexuality in mid-20th century America. How widespread was this method of conversion therapy? And was there any significant opposition to the practice at the time?	8
Considering how badly early Americans treated Native Americans, why did they name so many places after Native American words?	5
In the antebellum South, did house slaves live longer than field slaves? If so, how big was this life expectancy gap?	3
The oldest known instrument is a 42,000 year old bone flute found in Germany's Geißenklösterle Cave. How would have ancient peoples constructed this and similar paleolithic flutes?	2
The first photograph of a sitting president, taken of William Henry Harrison in 1841, is lost to history. How and why did the White House lose such an important historical document?	1
Who burned down Like-A-Fishhook Village?	1
Why don't historians consider the era of slavery or the Civil War to be the nadir of American race relations?	0

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