History

Malachi Kirby and Emayatzy Corinealdi in the new production of Roots. Steve Dietl hide caption

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell speaks in front of the Stonewall Inn in 2014 to announce a National Park Service initiative to identify historic sites related to the struggle for LGBT rights. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

Sen. Barack Obama, as Democratic presidential candidate, and former candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton appear together at a Women For Obama fundraiser New York, July, 2008. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Survivors of the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare are seen as they await emergency medical treatment in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. AP hide caption

The Hokule'a, a voyaging canoe built to revive the centuries-old tradition of Polynesian exploration, makes its way up the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Sailed by a crew of 12 who use only celestial navigation and observation of nature, the canoe is two-thirds of the way through a four-year trip around the world. Bryson Hoe/Courtesy of 'Oiwi TV and Polynesian Voyaging Society hide caption

Demonstrators gather in a silent rally to mourn the death of an Okinawa woman in front of Camp Zukeran on May 22. The crime is thrusting the opposition to the U.S. presence on Okinawa back in the spotlight. The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images hide caption

Patricia Gallagher (from left), who first proposed the tasting; wine merchant Steven Spurrier; and influential French wine editor Odette Kahn. After the results were announced, Kahn is said to have demanded her scorecard back. "She wanted to make sure that the world didn't know what her scores were," says George Taber, the only journalist present that day. Courtesy of Bella Spurrier hide caption

For more than 70 years, the false bottom on this mug hid a Holocaust victim's treasures. Mirosław Maciaszczyk/Auschwitz Museum hide caption

ARGO — The Rescue of the Canadian Six was painted by an undercover CIA employee. It depicts an operation in which six Americans ("The Canadian Six") were rescued after the U.S. embassy in Tehran was taken over in 1979. Courtesy of CIA hide caption

Two versions of a letter from Christopher Columbus about his discovery of the New World are displayed in Rome. The book on the bottom, produced centuries ago, has just been returned after having been stolen and replaced with a forgery (top). Domenico Stinellis/AP hide caption

W. H. Richards and A.H. Reffell built Eric in 1928. The Science Museum estimates it will take expert roboticist Giles Walker three months to reconstruct him. Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images hide caption