This year, a lot of Americans will be celebrating Independence Day in a minor key. I’m one of them. I’m spending our country’s anniversary in COVID isolation at Trinity College, Dublin, a set of circumstances not conducive to riotous celebration even at the best of times. I felt like I should mark the day somehow, though, so I’m sharing some magazine covers from July 1925 that show some of the many ways our country’s unquenchable spirit can be celebrated:

spending the day at Coney Island,

lighting a festive lantern,

breathing in the sea air,

ringing the bell of freedom,

and celebrating the diversity that always has been, and always will be, our country’s greatest strength.

Happy 4th, everyone!