Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) first launched a magazine named Humanities in 1969, but it was discontinued in 1978. A new version of Humanities magazine was introduced in 1980 (ISSN 0018-7526) and is now published six times each year. Each issue features a special cover story that highlights that year's Jefferson Lecturer. Many of the articles relate to the activities of the NEH. Since 2007, the magazine has been under the editorial guidance of journalist and author David Skinner. Before him, from 1990 until her passing in 2007, the magazine was edited by Mary Lou Beatty, who had a notable career as a senior editor at the Washington Post.

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#162447

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#56433

Science and Education/History

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The Columbian Orator Taught Nineteenth-Century Americans How to Speak

2 months ago | neh.gov | Danny Heitman

One day in 1830, Frederick Douglass bought a book that changed his life. Douglass, then known as Frederick Bailey, was a twelve-year-old child enslaved in Baltimore. After hearing a group of white boys recite from The Columbian Orator, a grade-school textbook for teaching rhetoric, Douglass decided to get a copy for himself. Against stiff odds for slaves of the time, he learned to read, and words were his prevailing passion.
Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement: An interview with Summer Stipends recipient Joanna Wuest

Aug 12, 2024 | neh.gov | Rachel Harrison

In Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement (University of Chicago Press, 2023), sociolegal scholar Joanna Wuest analyzes decades of scientific studies, legal documents, media coverage, and advocacy pamphlets to detail the inception and ongoing life of the “born this way” defense of LGBTQ+ rights.
It’s Dante’s Hell-We’re Just Living In It

Mar 16, 2024 | neh.gov | Nick Ripatrazone

Qui est per omnia secula benedictus are the final words of La Vita Nuova, Dante Alighieri’s collection of poetry and prose. The Latin renders to “who is blessed for ever” and concludes an enigmatic, brief paragraph. First published in 1294, La Vita Nuova is a tantalizing prelude to the Florentine poet’s masterpiece, La Commedia, known today as The Divine Comedy.
A Series of Mysterious Birth Defects Spurred A Search For Answers

Jul 26, 2023 | neh.gov | Jennifer Vanderbes

Late in the evening of Thursday, May 4, 1961, thirty-three-year-old William McBride got a call at his home in Blakehurst, Australia, to attend a complicated birth. McBride, an ambitious workaholic, ran one of the largest obstetrical practices in Sydney, Australia. He was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A tall man with intense blue eyes and a beak of a nose, his brown wavy hair was always side-parted.