Why Simón Bolívar Isn’t the Only Revolutionary Icon Venezuelans Should Look Up To

Francisco de Miranda, a Quixotic Fighter for Liberty, Also Belongs in Our National Pantheon

In Philadelphia, there is only one statue dedicated to someone from Latin America. If you look among the monuments along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, you’ll eventually come across the statue of Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda.

The plaque tells a quick story: Miranda was born in Caracas in 1750, fought with the Spanish troops during the American Revolution, served as a general during the French Revolution, briefly led an independent Venezuela, and died while jailed in a Spanish fortress in 1816.

I can’t blame you if you haven’t heard of Miranda …

by José González Vargas | July 10, 2018

What Hawaii Taught This Midwesterner About Her Own Identity

A Nebraska Historian Explores a State’s Racial Hierarchy Through the Lives of Missionary Children

By Joy Schulz | February 9, 2018

I was 16 when I first visited the islands. A skinny, white girl with a bad perm, I became red as a lobster after spending one week on Maui.

I …

How Tea Became a Weapon in Darjeeling’s Ethnic Struggle

An Indian Minority's Push for Independence Has Roots in the British Empire's Divide and Conquer Policies

By Erika Rappaport | October 25, 2017

Darjeeling tea is a world-renowned product that reliably flows from India’s highlands, where it has been grown for more than a century. But since early this summer, none of it …

Brexit Succeeded by Playing to Britons’ Imperial Nostalgia

Searching to Become “Great” Again, British Voters Ignored Their Empire’s More Recent History

By Philippa Levine | June 28, 2016

Shortly after the result of Britain’s referendum on the European Union was declared last week, an academic colleague remarked to me, “the final curse of the empire is that the …

Colonialism