Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born on Sept. 29, 1571. His father was a architect/decorator for a nobleman. His father and grandfather died on the same day when he was 6. His mother raised her five children in poverty. At age 13, he was apprenticed to a painter in Read more…
Today is the birthday in 1905 of a boxing hall of famer. Max Schmeling got hooked on boxing when his father took him to see a movie of a Jack Dempsey fight. His father was a ship’s navigator and had been enthralled with the sport on his travels. Max began Read more…
Little is known about George Washington’s father, Augustine. He died when his son was 11. One thing that is known is he asked his son why he chopped down a cherry tree. It turns out we don’t even know that. The cherry tree story was first chronicled in a Read more…
One of the worst days in the history of art was Sept. 26, 1687. That’s the day the greatest temple of the ancient world was blown up. The Parthenon was located on the Acropolis (the hill) in Athens. It was a temple of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. Read more…
The Warren Commission was created by Pres. Lyndon Johnson a week after the Kennedy assassination. It was headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren and included two Senators, two Congressman (including Gerald Ford), the CIA director, and a former head of the World Bank. It presented its 888-page report on Read more…
Edith Boling was a direct descendant of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. She was widowed at age 35 when her husband Norman Galt died from the flu. Seven years later, she went walking with her friend Helen Bones. Helen was the cousin of Pres. Wilson and they ended up at Read more…
The Seventies saw the rise of the women’s liberation movement. Most women began to demand equal rights. Many called men wanted women to remain in their traditional status of subordination to men. The feminists called them male chauvinist pigs. Few men were willing to accept that label. However, there Read more…
Witold Pilecki was a veteran of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921. In 1939, he fought against the Nazi invasion. He then joined an underground group. Pilecki volunteered to infiltrate a new prison camp called Auschwitz. He joined a protest march in Warsaw and was arrested on Sept. 19, 1940. Read more…
In September of 1864, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was starving during the Siege of Petersburg. On Sept. 5, a scout brought some information to Major General Wade Hampton. Hampton was the commander of Confederate cavalry (after the death of JEB Stuart). The scout told him of a large Read more…
Wall Street was crowded at lunchtime on Sept. 16, 1920. Cars were driving and many workers were heading for lunch spots. At 12:01, a massive explosion rocked the financial district. 30 were killed immediately and 8 were mortally wounded. Another 300 were injured. Most of the victims were stenographers, Read more…