The 'welfare queen' myth

Plus: New York's first migrant crisis |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman In the past few years, Republican governors have captured headlines by busing and flying undocumented migrants to cities in blue states. But, as Allie Lopez explores in Made by History, this isn’t the first time Southern politicians have used one-way trips to try to deal with a minority population they didn’t want. In the 1960s, segregationist politicians conducted what they called "reverse freedom rides,” for which they gave Black single mothers who received welfare bus tickets to Northern cities, promising them resources and help upon arrival. The promises were false, but the impact was real. The campaign to raise money for the trips pioneered rhetoric about lazy welfare recipients that has become embedded in American politics. Even today, while elected officials who use such language have different goals than the segregationists of the past, one thing has remained constant: when recipients of financial assistance become political pawns, there can be major implications for how society sees the poor.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM How Virginia Used Segregation Law to Erase Native Americans By Ashley R. Craig and Gregory D. Smithers / Made by History A century ago, Virginia's Racial Integrity Act became a model for segregation. The impact on Native people is still being felt. Read More » The Man Who Used Nazi Propaganda to Help the Allies Win By Peter Pomerantsev The strange tale of a fake Nazi radio station that helped win the war. And what it can teach us about disinformation today. Read More » The Emotional True Story Behind Holocaust Drama One Life By Armani Syed Anthony Hopkins plays Sir Nicholas Winton, who helped evacuate 669 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe. Read More » Column: What New York's First Migrant Crisis Can Teach Us About Immigration Today By Tyler Anbinder America's handling of the Irish Famine migrant crisis in the 1850s is a guide for immigration today, writes Tyler Anbinder. Read More » Canada’s Right Is Moving Further Right—And Closer to the U.S. By Tess Megginson / Made by History Canada's political landscape has been remade in recent decades. Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1963: Muhammad Ali BORIS CHALIAPIN The Mar. 22, 1963, cover of TIME “‘I’m beee-ootiful,’ he croons. ‘I’m the greatest. I’m the double greatest. I am clean and sparkling. I will be a clean and sparkling champion.’ Cassius Clay is Hercules, struggling through the twelve labors. He is Jason, chasing the Golden Fleece. He is Galahad, Cyrano, D’Artagnan. When he scowls, strong men shudder, and when he smiles, women swoon. The mysteries of the universe are his Tinker Toys. He rattles the thunder and looses the lightning. ‘I was marked,” he says. ‘I had a big head, and I looked like Joe Louis in my cradle. People said so. One day I threw my first punch and hit my mother right in the teeth and knocked one out. If you don’t believe me, ask her.’” Read More » This week in 1984: Michael Jackson Andy Warhol The Mar. 19, 1984, cover of TIME “For a record industry stuck on the border between the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop, Thriller was a thorough restoration of confidence, a rejuvenation. Its effect on listeners, especially younger ones, was nearer to a revelation. Thriller brought black music back to mainstream radio, from which it had been effectively banished after restrictive "special-format programming" was introduced in the mid-'70s. Listeners could put more carbonation in their pop and cut their heavy-metal diet with a dose of the fleetest soul around. ‘No doubt about it,’ says Composer-Arranger Quincy Jones, who produced Off the Wall and Thriller with Jackson. ‘He's taken us right up there where we belong. Black music had to play second fiddle for a long time, but its spirit is the whole motor of pop. Michael has connected with every soul in the world.’” Read More » This week in 2013: Sheryl Sandberg PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT MAXWELL FOR TIME The Mar. 18, 2013, cover of TIME “‘I notice bossy is applied almost always to little girls,’ says Sandberg over lunch (she ordered a Wagyu hot dog with no bun and no relish). ‘It’s just not used for men.’ In person, Sandberg does not give the impression that she’s bossy. She gives the impression that she was born 43…It’s probably not an overstatement to say Sandberg is embarking on the most ambitious mission to reboot feminism and reframe discussions of gender since the launch of Ms. magazine in 1971. The thing is, she’s in a pretty good position to pull it off. She’s the co-pilot of the biggest network of humans the world has ever seen: Facebook’s roughly 1 billion members, most of whom are female, at least in the U.S. She’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars.” Read More »

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