The American Emergency Rescue Committee was formed in New York after the fall of France in 1940. It was supported by Eleanor Roosevelt. It was created by intellectuals to help refugee anti-Nazi writers and artists and Jews. Varian Fry (pictured below) was one of the founders. He graduated from Read more…
In the summer of 1964, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was helping register African-Americans to vote in Mississippi (Freedom Summer). On April 24, the Ku Klux Klan (which had more than 10,000 members in Mississippi) had burned 61 churches as a warning to blacks and white civil rights Read more…
Anaximander was the first philosophy who wrote down his ideas. Unfortunately, most of his writings have been lost. We do know some of them from Plato and Aristotle. He questioned mythology and substituted natural explanations for phenomena. He is credited with founding astronomy. He created the first gnomen which Read more…
In 249, the Romans sent a fleet to recapture Drepana on Sicily during the First Punic War. It was being used as a base for raids on the Italian coast. Consul Publius Claudius Pulcher tried to arrive at dawn to catch the Carthaginian fleet sleeping. Unfortunately, the enemy admiral was Read more…
One of the most famous Civil War spies was Maria Isabella Boyd. Better known as Belle Boyd. Belle was born in Virginia in 1844. When the Civil War broke out, her 45-year-old father enlisted in Stonewall Jackson’s brigade. A loyal and patriotic Southerner, she wanted to serve her country. Read more…
There are some who look at Hitler as a military genius. There is little evidence to support this and a ton of evidence that proves he was in fact an idiot. He doomed Nazi Germany because of terrible decisions like fighting on two fronts, invading the Soviet Union, and Read more…
The most famous mascot in the history of the U.S. Army was an eagle. In 1861, a Chippewa Indian chief chopped down a tree to get two eaglets in a nest. One eaglet died in the fall, but the other became Chief Sky’s pet. He traded him for a Read more…
After Jefferson’s inauguration, Elder John Leland encouraged his Baptist congregation in Cheshire, Massachusetts to present a gift to the new president. It was to thank him for his republicanism and his support for religious liberty. But what would be appropriate? A “mammoth cheese”! The congregation was encouraged to contribute Read more…
Today is the 4th anniversary of this website. I still have many stories to get to. I decided to post on some forgotten heroes who have been dissed by history. A recent movie popularized the glorious sacrifice of 300 Spartan warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae. “300” tells the Read more…
Teachers have long taught that the Stock Market Crash of 1929 resulted in many stock investors jumping out of high rises. Seems logical, right? So many millions lost and fortunes ruined, it seems logical that some riches to rags individuals ended it all. The problem is that this did Read more…