This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present, surface delightful treasures, and examine the American idea.
The earliest mention of marijuana I could find in The Atlantic’s pages was from “I Like Bad Boys,” an immersive essay from November 1939 in which J. M. Braude profiles working-class adolescents caught up in the Chicago Boys’ Court system.
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For Juneteenth, three Atlantic writers and editors share their recommendations for what to listen to, read, and watch.
For a few years of my childhood, Kwanzaa was a big deal. I recall attending three Kwanzaa celebrations hosted by Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in Baltimore. My cousin Olivia Moyd Hazell, at the time the church’s director of Christian education, organized them. About 50 church members and friends, many wearing kente cloth, would file into a softly lit basement the weekend after Christmas.