Serri Graslie

From the people on our money to the effects of calling someone black, this week, we bring you four reads that illuminate a bit of history or pieces of regulation you may not have known about.

Our friends at the WNYC podcast New Tech City recently challenged you to put down the smartphone to see what sort of brilliance beckoned. We check in on the results.

Millennials are the largest and most diverse generation in American history. Some 18- to 34-year-olds say the act of taking a selfie for the #NPRCensus taught them more about themselves — and others.

Especially at Thanksgiving, saying grace is a family ritual for many Americans. We asked you to share your stories and traditions — and they ran the gamut, from heartwarming to horrifying.

Growing waistlines, a savvy clothing industry and good old-fashioned stubbornness have kept many men in pants that don't fit. It doesn't have to be this way.

By some measures, not much has changed for the American male in the past few decades — girls still do better in school and men still make more money. In other areas, the differences are profound.

The rural Texas town was established as a "freedom colony" with land given to former slaves after the Civil War. O. Rufus Lovett photographed Weeping Mary and its residents for 11 years.

Homemade sodas are hot these days: Americans bought more than 1.2 million home carbonators last year. For the Fourth of July, we asked mixologist Gina Chersevani to help us tap into the trend with a soda float inspired by Independence Day.

Postwar marketing of convenience foods pushed our grandmothers to take many shortcuts in the kitchen that modern foodies might find unpalatable. Many involved Jell-O. Cookbook author Jeremy Jackson updated his grandma Mildred's famous strawberry cake recipe to remove this old-school secret ingredient.