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The Fight Isn’t Over for Farm Worker Overtime

David Bacon Capital and Main
For the state’s first hundred-plus years, certain unspoken rules governed California politics. In a state where agriculture produced more wealth than any industry, the first rule was that growers held enormous power.

The World's Oldest Computer is Still Revealing its Secrets

Sarah Kaplan The Washington Post
In this very small volume of messed-up corroded metal you have packed in there enough knowledge to fill several books telling us about ancient technology, ancient science and the way these interacted with the broader culture of the time.

Philadelphia’s Forgotten Spirit of 1776

Sam Pizzigati Campaign for America's Future
The struggle for independence upset the “politics of deference.” The colonial elites, explains historian Clement Fatovic, found it “more and more difficult” to reconcile “great disparities of wealth with the animating principles of the Revolution.”

The Culinary Journey of Michael Twitty

Joe Yonan The Splendid Table
Culinary historian Michael Twitty is on a journey to discover himself, through the food of his ancestors. Joe Yonan talks to him about history, identity, and what exactly goes into a kosher soul roll.

How Jesse Williams Stole BET Awards With Speech on Racism

Katie Rogers The New York Times
The BET Awards Sunday featured tributes to Prince and Muhammad Ali, and a performance by Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar. But this year, the actor Jesse Williams commanded the spotlight with an impassioned speech calling for an end to police killings, racial inequality and cultural appropriation.

Immigrant Laborers Have a New Tool to Fight Back Against Rampant Wage Theft in the US

Kate Groetzinger, Frida Garza Quartz
The Jornalero app has three main functions: First, it allows day laborers to record the hours they work. Second, it allows them to file a wage theft report directly to a workers’ center from their phone. Third, it allows them to send out an alert when they experience wage theft, to warn other day laborers with the app about nonpaying employers in the area.

Obama Just Signed a Controversial Puerto Rico Debt Plan Into Law

Osita Nwanevu Slate
“In my view it is a very, very, very bad piece of legislation,” Sanders said at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Washington last week. “[W]e are taking away virtually all of the political and democratic rights of the people of Puerto Rico. We are treating them as an absolute colony.”