It’s mid-1942. You’re a crew member on an oiler in the US Navy. You’re standing on the deck of your ship, leaning against the railing, a cigarette burning between your lips. Late evening has set in, and the sprawling waters of the Pacific look steely grey in the low light. Over the whistle of the …
“What’s resulted in the decades since is supposed to be an opportunity for White people and their institutions to redress their perpetual erasure of the roles of Black folks in building this country on our backs… What we’ve been given, however, is a rote acknowledgment of the same five people — Rosa Parks, Martin Luther …
Read moreDiverse Threads in the History of the United States: The Life of Booker T. Washington
Imagine that your house is on fire. You see it, but instead of calling the fire department, you turn your back and pretend that it’s not happening. And then you look again, grimace, and sign a compromise with the house saying you’ll get to dealing with it in a little bit. Hopefully, the house can …
Read moreThe Compromise of 1850: America’s Final Attempt to Pretend Slavery is OK
The thin, alpine air rushes between the two towering mountains dominating the horizon; whipping past you, biting your skin and icing your bones. When you’re not freezing where you stand, you’re hearing and seeing ghosts; worried that a band of barbarous, war mongering Gauls — eager to plunge their swords into any chest that wanders …
Read moreThe Second Punic War: Hannibal marches against Rome
Did Abraham Lincoln love his wife? Or was he instead forever emotionally faithful to the memory of his first true love, a woman by the name of Ann Rutledge? Is this another American legend, like that of Paul Bunyan? The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle, but the way that this story has …
Even today, hundreds of Icelanders worship the ancient Norse gods. But who exactly were these deities? The Norse pantheon is made up of many characters and is dominated by a complex story strung together by murky, often incomplete chapters. Indeed, at times we know the names of some gods but are left only to guess …
Read moreNorse Gods and Goddesses Pantheon: The Mythology of the Nordic Viking Deities