Colonists at the First Thanksgiving Were Mostly Men Because Women Had Perished
As families around the country prepare to gather with family, eat turkey and perhaps partake in some Black Friday shopping, they might be surprised to learn how much we don’t know about the origins of the Thanksgiving. What we do know is most of the adult colonists in attendance ...read more
Before the Green Book, These Resorts Offered Hidden Safe Havens for Black Americans
Idlewild, Michigan was once known as “The Black Eden”—a resort where black writers, business people, physicians and entertainers spent their summers in a racially segregated country. In its earliest days, you could run into W.E.B. Du Bois; in its later years, you ...read more
How 'The Great Gatsby' Chronicled the Dark Side of the Roaring '20s
More than any other author, F. Scott Fitzgerald can be said to have captured the rollicking, tumultuous decade known as the Roaring Twenties, from its wild parties, dancing and illegal drinking to its post-war prosperity and its new freedoms for women. Above all, Fitzgerald’s ...read more
Does This 1,500-Year-Old Painting Show What Jesus Looked Like?
In an extremely rare early painting found in an ancient Israeli church, Jesus looks completely different from the long-haired, bearded Western image of him. Archaeologists from the University of Haifa in Israel discovered the previously unknown 1,500-year-old painting of Jesus in ...read more
Did Colonists Give Infected Blankets to Native Americans as Biological Warfare?
North American colonists’ warfare against Native Americans often was horrifyingly brutal. But one method they appear to have used shocks even more than all the bloody slaughter: The gifting of blankets and linens contaminated with smallpox. The virus causes a disease that can ...read more
Mormons Tried to Stop Native Child Slavery in Utah. They Ended Up Encouraging It
When Brigham Young and his band of Mormon settlers marched into Utah in 1847, they saw a vast expanse of land they envisioned as a sanctuary. Salt Lake City would soon become the bustling center of life in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But that life would rest ...read more
How the Great Depression Became the Golden Age for Monopoly
When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, people had played Monopoly for at least three decades. But the downturn proved to be an unlikely golden age for the real estate board game—and one with riddled with irony.Elizabeth J. Magie, the game’s originator, first received her ...read more
Humans Are Just as Violent as Neanderthals, Scientists Conclude
Contrary to popular scientific opinion, it turns out life for Neanderthals probably wasn’t any more violent or dangerous than it was for our modern human ancestors. In a new study, researchers from the University of Tübingen in Germany compared the head injuries suffered by ...read more
How Alexander Hamilton's Men Surprised the Enemy at the Battle of Yorktown
Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, known for his famous, fatal duel with Aaron Burr—and his ability to draw sold-out crowds to a hit musical examining his life—played a key role in a battle that brought an end to the American Revolutionary War. And in ...read more
How Stan Lee's X-Men Were Inspired by Real-Life Civil Rights Heroes
It’s impossible to imagine American pop culture without Spider-Man. Or the Hulk. Or, thanks to a decade’s worth of mega-blockbuster films, Iron Man, Thor, Dr. Strange, and Ant-Man. These stories—all co-creations of Marvel Comics impresario Stan Lee, who died on November 12, 2018 ...read more
Inside Jonestown: How Jim Jones Trapped Followers and Forced 'Suicides'
In 1975, Rev. Jim Jones, the religious cult leader and civil rights activist, hinted at things to come. “I love socialism, and I’m willing to die to bring it about, but if I did, I’d take a thousand with me,” he said during a sermon at his Peoples Temple church in San Francisco. ...read more
First Wrecked Slave Ship Discovery Yields Brutal Details
The small, 340-ton São José-Paquete de Africa set out from Mozambique in December 1794. Even though the ship was no more than no more than 130 feet long (and probably closer to 100), the crew had packed 543 captive people aboard. The crew shackled them in place to prevent them ...read more
California Wildfires Have Been Fought by Prisoners Since World War II
When it comes to California’s natural disasters—fires, earthquakes, floods—a surprising cohort of first responders have served on the front lines since World War II: prison inmates. While the idea of using prisoners for back-breaking, low-cost labor on road crews harks back to ...read more
Kitten Mummies Found in Pyramid Were Likely Strangled by Priests
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered dozens of mummified cats along with 100 wooden gilded statues of felines and a bronze statue of a cat goddess named Bastet. These artifacts were found inside the King Userkaf pyramid complex in the Saqqara necropolis, a famous burial ground ...read more
Thanksgiving History Facts and Trivia
Thanksgiving may be America’s most beloved national holiday, but its history is all over the place. Even the details of the famous feast between the Plymouth Colony settlers and the Wampanoag Indians in November of 1621 are sketchy. The best account we have is a ...read more