Plus: the secret Oppenheimer took to his grave |

By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman

March 12 was Equal Pay Day for 2024, marking how far into the year a woman who works full time had to work to make the same amount of money a man working the same hours made in 2023. The pay disparity is even starker for women of color. Anna Danziger Halperin and Jeanne Gutierrez of the New-York Historical Society explain the history behind these troubling statistics in a Made by History piece connected to a new exhibit at the Society titled Women’s Work. Domestic and care work has traditionally been coded as "women's work," they write—tasks that women allegedly perform better than men. Due to the political and economic dominance of white men, this type of work has accordingly been undervalued or even unpaid, especially for Black women. But by the end of the 19th century, women used these stereotypes to their advantage to open up new professions like teaching and nursing to women, justifying their entry into the (male) workforce by capitalizing on the ties between these roles and care work. But while doing so opened up new paid employment opportunities, it also ensured that this work was and remains lower paid than employment in historically male-dominated fields like banking. Halperin and Gutierrez challenge readers to contend with this history and consider what America would look like if we more equally valued these essential roles that have long undergirded the nation's economic strength.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM
Culture Warriors—on Both Sides—Are Wrong About America’s History Classrooms
By Nicholas Kryczka, Whitney E. Barringer, Scot McFarlane and James R. Grossman
A new survey shows that culture warriors on both sides have the wrong idea about what's happening in American classrooms.
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Multilingualism Is an American Tradition. So Is Backlash to It
By Daniel J. Olson / Made by History
Former President Donald Trump framed speakers of diverse languages as threat. But the U.S. has always benefited from speaking many tongues.
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Column: Robert Oppenheimer Was a Communist and a Patriot
By Gregg Herken
A biographer of Robert Oppenheimer explains how he uncovered the likely truth about his membership in a secret communist unit.
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The Story of Killers of the Flower Moon Isn’t Over
By Mary Pattillo / Made by History
U.S. policies authorized violence against Native people, and the effects still resonate today.
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It Wasn’t This Year’s Most Acclaimed Historical Film—But Napoleon Has Something to Teach Viewers
By Paula Leverage / Made by History
While it may be an awards flop, Napoleon does what historical epic films should: probe the present.
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‘Women’s Work’ Powers the Economy—And Has Always Been Undervalued
By Anna Danziger Halperin and Jeanne Gutierrez / Made by History
Professions associated with women's caregiving roles remain lower paid than other jobs—but, long before Equal Pay Day was a thing, the idea of "women's work" was just a stereotype.
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The Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Shootings
By Jo Scott-Coe / Made by History
What we can learn from the tragic archive of Kathy Leissner, wife of UT-Austin mass shooter Charles Whitman.
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FROM THE TIME VAULT
This week in 1979: Robin Williams and the state of TV

Robin Williams on the cover of TIME magazine in 1979
MICHAEL DRESSLER
The Mar. 12, 1979, cover of TIME

“The networks must also worry about a whole range of new competitors. Cable and pay TV are siphoning off more viewers each year; videocassette recorders enable people to record and watch shows at their own leisure, at least partially negating all the network attempts to find a strong 8 o'clock lead-in; and relatively cheap videodiscs will soon allow people to buy their own shows to play again and again…The networks, in short, may soon be fighting for a smaller prize. Whether that will increase or reduce the chaos in television programming remains, quite literally, to be seen.”

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This week in 1996: Prince Charles and Princess Diana Divorce

Princess Diana 1996 Time magazine cover
LORD SNOWDON
The Mar. 11, 1996, cover of TIME

“This is one failed couple that will never be free of each other, both because their son will one day be King and because the press and the public seem permanently obsessed with them. Charles' future has been dictated from his birth, but the latest wave of Di-mania focused on speculation about what will become of her. Not only does no one know what her life will be like, it's hard to picture her as anything other than the world's most famous royal princess. “

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This week in 2001: SATs

A 2001 TIME magazine cover story on the SATs
TIME
The March 12, 2001, cover of TIME

“For the past two weeks, TIME has been asking famous and accomplished people to tell us their SAT scores. Most of them declined--which is a little strange, since the big bad test couldn't possibly hurt Alan Greenspan or Oprah Winfrey. But the SAT occupies a central place in the American psyche, lying at the terrifying intersection of ability, class and pride. As TV's Conan O'Brien put it, ‘It has taken 20 years to forget the trauma of that damned test, and looking up my scores would be like going back to Vietnam.’”

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