If you were a man with property in the 19th century, there's a good chance you sat for a portrait at some point. If you were an enslaved person, a Native American, or an immigrant, there's a good chance you did not. Jill Lepore addresses this lopsidedness, or asymmetry, of history as she shares her own efforts to excavate the stories of people overlooked in the official account. Sometimes this means tracking down a portrait.

You can see the portraits we discussed with Jill at our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/lepore