WEIRD, WACKY, FUN, EXCITING STORIES THAT NEVER QUITE MAKE IT INTO HISTORY CLASS LESSONS...
History is a big subject with many quadrants and very little time. Sometimes teachers have to focus on the big story. Here are some of the cool stories that you may have missed, myths that we believe... but did they happen, and strange stories from history.
HISTORY MYTHSTHERE WERE NO FREE BLACK PEOPLE LIVING IN THE SOUTH BEFORE OR DURING THE CIVIL WAR.There is an image in your mind when you think of the South prior to the Civil War. African Americans all bound to plantations as slaves. It is true the vast majority of colored persons in the South were indeed slaves, but not all.
Back in Colonial America, slaves could win their freedom through lawsuits. Although there was a low chance of succeeding, winning in court meant that the slave was now a citizen. Since slaves often didn't have last names and needed a last name to be a citizen, they were often just given the last name of 'Freeman.' Slaves could also earn their freedom by paying off their price and in some instances, slaves were freed by their owners or given freedom through a will after the master's death. Thomas Jefferson when he purchased the Louisiana Territory also inherited thousands of people of color. Another group of free African Americans came to the United States from Cuba in 1809 and lived in the South by New Orleans. The population of free 'people of color' had been growing since the 1600s, so where did these freed slaves go? There is a myth that they all traveled to the free North, but that is a myth. In the year that Lincoln was elected there were at total of 488,070 free blacks living in the United States. (About 10% of all African Americans in the US at the time.) Of those, 226,152 lived in the North. 261,918 lived in the South. (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas) The black peoples living in the South did not leave during the Civil War. While most of them lived in the Upper South which was less reliant upon slave labor for their economic health, there were freed slaves living in the lower South during the Civil War as well. This is not to say that it was peaceful or that there wasn't racial tensions at the time. There were racial tensions both in the North and the South. Free African Americans in the South were treated on a different caste level than even the poor white class. And, the North was not as welcoming as it is portrayed in the history books. It is important to note that African Americans were not quiet figures either. Many African Americans fought for abolitionism. Many African Americans in the North had successful businesses, got college degrees, and participated in the government. Want to know more? https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/free-blacks-lived-in-the-north-right/
and https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/education-steeped-african-american-culture-historically-black-colleges-and POCAHONTAS FELL IN LOVE WITH JOHN SMITH AND SAVED THE SETTLERSWe all know the story of Pocahontas according to Disney, but that version is pretty far from the truth. First of all, the name “Pocahontas” is actually a nickname that means something close to “spoiled child.” Her real name was Matoaka, but it is true that she was the daughter of the chief Powhatan.
Second, we can categorically deny any romantic relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith. She actually married John Rolfe and returned with him to England. Even this marriage may or may not have been based on love. Pocahontas was kidnapped and held captive in the Jamestown colony for about a year during a war between the native tribes and the Jamestown colonists, and she agreed to her marriage to Rolfe as a condition of her release. Even the part of the story she is most famous for is dubious. According to Smith, he was saved by Pocahontas from being stoned by her father, but historians disagree on the veracity of this claim. Some find his claims of this event doubtful because he only started reporting the story about 17 years after it would have happened. Others believe that claims of this being a lie were simply an attempt to undermine his authority. Some even suggest that the whole scenario of a feigned execution and the subsequent saving by a member of the tribe was a traditional way of welcoming an outsider into the tribe. The fact is that we may never know if Pocahontas saved Smith from stoning, but if she did, it’s unlikely that the reason was her love for him. Want to know more? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-pocahontas-180962649/ THE UNITED STATES BROKE AWAY FROM ENGLAND ON JULY 4, 1776, BY SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.Yesterday, we celebrated the birth of our nation... except it really isn't. It is actually two day's shy of the actual date that Congress declared us an independent nation. And, technically the Declaration of Independence wasn't signed until... Drum roll... August 2nd.
John Adams wrote his wife "I am apt to believe that [July 2, 1776], will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." It seems Adams was both right and wrong. Lot's of celebrating, but we celebrate on the 4th not the 2nd. Why do we get it wrong? Well that has a lot to do with the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson was the President that made July 4, our nation's birthday. The wording on the Declaration of Independence needed editing on the final wording that took an additional two days after Congress voted to break away from the Crown of England. On July 4th, the founding father's finally accepted the document. Except they didn't... On July 19th they changed the title to "The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America," and ordered the engrossing. Prior to July 19th the document was on regularly sized paper. The document that is on display in Washington DC is the one ordered on July 19th, 1776. It would be this engrossed (enlarged) document that the founding father's would sign... eventually. No one put their signature on the document in the month of July at all. Yup, another myth. You know that really big signature that we talk about? John Hancock? He signed the document on August 2nd along with almost all of the founding fathers. A few signed even later than August 2nd including: Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton. Because John took up so much space with his huge signature, a few of the delegates didn't have room for their signature- including Robert R. Livingston (NY) who actually was part of the committee tasked with writing the document. Why then did Thomas Jefferson choose, when he was the Third President of the United States under the Constitution, to make July 4th a holiday? Well probably because that was the day he read the Declaration of Independence to Congress. It is also the date that is written on the document. Jefferson technically didn't come up with the actual statement that we will follow to become a new nation either. That honor belongs to a man by the name of Richard Henry Lee. On June 7, 1776, Lee introduced a resolution that: "that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states," His resolution contained three parts- a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances and a plan for a confederation of states. Below is the actual vote taken on July 2nd, 1776. Unfortunately this is the only document that was produced on the 2nd of July and the Declaration of Independence is so much better looking. But this document below- the "Lee Resolution" is the actual document that made the United States an Independent Nation. Transcript of the Lee Resolution:
Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation PAUL REVERE WARNED LEXINGTON AND CONCORD THAT THE BRITISH WERE COMING:Myth: While Paul Revere did set out on the ride, unfortunately he was not the one that actually warned the militias in Lexington and Concord that the British were coming. Truth is- that wasn't his primary goal. They needed to get the leaders of the rebellion out so that they didn't get captured.
There were actually four men and one woman who set out on the ride on April 18th. Paul Revere, Samuel Prescott, Israel Bissell, William Dawes, and Sybil Ludington (maybe). Revere for all his historic note didn't even make past Lexington because he stopped to eat. Dawes carried on the news to Concord, but ended up losing his horse and only avoided capture by bluffing out two British Soldiers Only Samuel Prescott made it the full ride. So why do we think of Paul Revere when we think of the Revolutionary War ride? That would be because a poet named Henry Wadworth Longfellow wrote his poem in April 1860, just shy of 85 years later. It is a very exciting poem and tells a great story: (Click the link below to read the whole thing. LISTEN, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. The poem- however is horribly fictionalized in its accounting. It was picked up by teachers and taught to elementary students for so many years, the other three members of the ride have been largely forgotten and the myth persists and even appears on National Standardized Tests. Sibyl Ludington is a disputed rider in these historical events. Some historians say she was overlooked because of her gender- others say that she is a bit of folklore. Most agree that her story is plausible, but hard to verify. Want to know more? https://www.biography.com/history-culture/paul-reveres-ride-facts Who is Sibyl Ludington? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/did-midnight-ride-sibyl-ludington-ever-happen-180979557/ EINSTEIN FLUNKED ALGEBRA AND FAILED HIS EXAMINATON TO GET INTO COLLEGE.This is partially a myth and partially not. Unfortunately people tend to infer one is related to the other. Let's set the record straight. Einstein did fail his college entrance exams- but it was not because of math.
The statement that Einstein was horrible at math in school is a long term myth that even amused Einstein himself. As a teenager, Einstein came up with an alternate proof for the Pythagorean theorem. While he might have been ahead or his thought processes of mathematics working at a higher level than his instructors- he was not considered bad at math at school. When Einstein heard the myth he just laughed it off and said that he had already mastered differential and integral calculus by 15. According to the New York Times, his academic records contained in a collection of the great theorist’s papers confirmed that he was a child prodigy, remarkably gifted in mathematics, algebra and physics, a ”brilliant” violin player who got high marks in Latin and Greek. But his inability to master French was the bane of his school days, and may have been chiefly responsible for him failing college entrance examinations. Want to know more? www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-albert-einstein GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATESOkay I'm going to be honest and say that this one is a technicality. George Washington was the First President of the United States under the Constitution. That is true, but there is an ongoing belief that he was the First President ever and that he was the only one to hold any Executive authority.
That is the Myth. Technically there were other Presidents- they were just referred to as The President of Congress. There was no Executive Branch under the Articles of Confederation- so this was the only figure of National Authority during that government's time. This job was not in any way the same level of authority that our current governmental system holds, but he was responsible for signing official documents, and interacting with foreign governments- which technically puts him in the position of figure head of the government even if his power was severely limited. So who was the first President of the United States under the Articles of Confederation? John Hanson. He didn't enjoy his job very much and perpetually wanted to resign. Another major flaw in the Articles of Confederation was that it didn't provide any way for this to happen. Hanson feeling a sense of duty to the nation remained in his position until he was able to follow the natural order of succession provided in the Articles. During his time as President he was able to usher out foreign troops out of the new nation, introduced and developed the treasury department, instituted the Secretary of War into existence, and created the Foreign Affairs Department. All powers that are currently relegated to our Executive Branch. He even declared a National Holliday- Thanksgiving. There are eight unaccounted for Presidents when we learn the Presidents of the United States: One for each year we remained under the Articles of Confederation: (Click on the links to learn more.) QUEEN CHARLOTTE AND THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
The Netflix series is one of my favorite shows of the Summer, but it has created one big myth.
Myth: The Great Experiment was about integrating people's of African descent into the Ton (The British Nobility). This was not a thing. Unfortunately slavery will continue in England until 1807. Freeing slaves in the British colonies did not occur until 1838. Queen Charlotte is set prior to the American Revolution in 1761. While there was a Great Experiment put in place by King George III- it was about marriage for Love rather than Marriage for social standing. Want to know more? https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/a-royal-experiment-the-private-life-of-king-george-iii/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- WAS QUEEN CHARLOTTE A PERSON OF COLOR? Queen Charlotte and Bridgerton, however, does bring up a very important historical debate that has been happening for the past two hundred years. Was Queen Charlotte of England of African descent? Answer: Absolutely or at least that was the perception of people in Europe and throughout the world including the United States. Queen Charlotte, the wife of England's King George III, was descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa. This was a black branch of the royal house. Even in the United States, during the War of 1812- the slogan "The Queen of England was a Negro Woman" (actual text of the flyers) was used to try and convince slaves within the United States to defect to the British Army in order to overthrow the United States. More than 4.000 African American slaves did in fact join the British Military due to this campaign. This was one of the largest moments of emancipation in US History prior to the Civil War. Want to know more? https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/royalfamily.html Want to know more about Charlotte? https://www.rct.uk/collection/georgian-papers-programme/queen-charlotte "THE SUPPOSED HYSTERIA OVER ORSON WELLES' 1938 WAR OF THE WORLDS RADIO BROADCAST WAS MADE UP BY LOCAL NEWSPAPERS BECAUSE THEY WERE AFRAID OF BEING REPLACED BY RADIO."THIS IS A FACT!
On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast debuted. The show turned H.G. Wells' novel of the same name into a series of fake radio bulletins proclaiming that a group of aliens had invaded a New Jersey town. Some who heard the show believed that it was real, and began calling the authorities and newspaper offices to confirm the story. Soon, newspapers began reporting that the show had caused hysteria across the nation. In later years, there was controversy about exactly how many people heard the broadcast. While some sources say that over 12 million people were listening, according to Slate, only a small portion of the country was actually listening in. During the broadcast, the C.E. Hooper rating service called about 5,000 households for its national rating survey. Only 2% of the households reported listening to "The War of the Worlds," and not a single household surveyed said they were listening to an emergency news broadcast. In fact, in some areas, CBS (which was the station that aired the show) pre-empted "The War of the Worlds" in order to play local programming. Many people began pointing fingers at newspapers for stoking public fears about the show. In fact, some believed that newspapers made up all of the supposed hysteria in order to create distrust in radio, because they were worried radio was going to overtake newspapers. Others blamed the newspapers for exaggerating the few initial reports of people actually believing the play and said that their coverage made the hysteria even worse. |
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DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN?fAcebook shut down two Robots named Alice and Bob because they started speaking to each other in a language Scientists couldn't understand.Answer: Sort of. This story tends to circle around in unbelievable stories and gives the impression that it happened this year. In actually this event happened in 2017.
Alice and Bob were and experiment in Chatbots on whether negotiations could happen. When left to themselves they veered away from traditional English. The researchers then told them to stick to English. That ended the strange language. Neither Alice or Bob were actually shut down. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/07/28/fact-check-facebook-chatbots-werent-shut-down-creating-language/8040006002/ Benjamin Franklin nearly electrocuted himself when he was trying to cook a turkey.The thing about history is it sometimes gets events wrong. For instance, many people believe Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity when lightning struck his kite and electrocuted him in 1752. However, Franklin didn’t discover electricity as it had been around for centuries.
Benjamin did fly a kite in a thunderstorm, but lightning didn’t hit the kite. He did get a minor static shock from the kite, which was enough to prove his theory. He was electrocuted but not that night with the kite. In 1749, Benjamin tried to kill a turkey by electrocuting it. Why? Because he thought it would taste better. He set up the experiment using Leyden jars that were used to store static electricity. He gathered a group of people to present the official way to electrocute a turkey, and touched one of the wires. His other hand was resting on a table that was grounded. The full turkey electrocuting power surged into his body About the incident Franklin wrote: "The company present ... say that the flash was very great and the crack as loud as a pistol; yet my senses being instantly gone, I neither saw the one nor heard the other; nor did I feel the stroke on my hand, though I afterward found [that] it raised a round swelling where the fire entered as big as half a pistol bullet, by which you may judge of the quickness of the electrical fire, which by this instance seems to be greater than the sound, light or animal sensation." "I then felt what I know not how well to describe—a universal blow through my whole body from head to foot, which seemed within as well as without; after which the first thing I took notice of was a violent, quick shaking of my body, which, gradually remitting, my sense as gradually returned, and I then thought the bottles must be discharged, but could not conceive how, till at last I perceived the chain in my hand, and recollected what I had been about to do. That part of my hand and fingers which held the chain was left white, as though the blood had been driven out, and remained so eight or ten minutes after, feeling like dead flesh; and I had a numbness in my arms and the back of my neck, which continued till the next morning, but wore off. Nothing remains now of this shock but a soreness in my breast bone, which feels as if I had been bruised. I did not fall but suppose I should have been knocked down if I had received the stroke in my head. The whole was over in less than a minute." Franklin felt foolish due to the incident and gave up on his Turkey electrocution practices. Want to know more? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-benjamin-franklin-shocked-himself-while-attempting-to-electrocute-a-turkey-180979094/ THE YEAR 46BC WAS 445 DAYS LONG.It is the longest documented year in world history. Julius Caesar was responsible for this extra large year.
Caesar was doing something important. He was changing the calendar to match the Solar Year rather than the mish-mash that had been created over time. He made it 365 days and he divided it into the 12 months with the names we still use today. Before Caesar's reform the Calendar was a mess. It was originally based on the Moon and not the Sun. It went from New Moon to Full Moon. The old calendar ended up having a handful of days that had to be added to the month of February (the month of purification) in order to match up with the seasons, but was wars and crises occurred the priests in charge of the calendar let it get off track. Caesar's Calendar, also known as the Julian Calendar changed the tracking of time to match the movement of the sun. This, unlike the moon, was fixed- give or take a few hours. But in order to do that- Caesar had to extend one year so that he could begin his new calendar in January rather than March. Since the Roman Calendar was 80 days out of alignment, Caesar added two months and a leap month- Mercedonius. The "Year of Confusion" had many changes. The original 10 months: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November and December were changed to the 12 months we have today. Those months that were named for Emperors were given 31 days to signify their importance, and February is still used to adjust the calendar so it matches the seasons. Want to know more?
https://www.calendar.com/history-of-the-calendar/ A surgeon once performed an operation to save a man's life and ended up killing three people in the process:This maybe should have gone under crazy- but I decided it was too good a story to wait a week.
Liston was renowned for being one of the fastest surgeons alive, which at the time was a very good thing. Anesthesia as we know it didn't exist, so patients were awake for the entire procedure, meaning the shorter it was, the better. Liston was performing a leg amputation, but worked so fast that he accidentally cut off two fingers on his assistant's hand. Both the patient and the assistant died later of gangrene, most likely due to the saw being unclean. What about the third death? Well, doctors and other spectators would often watch these surgeries from the gallery, which was much more up close and personal than medical galleries today. During the procedure, Liston accidentally swiped near an elderly doctor with a blade, slicing the fabric of the doctor's suit coat. Thinking he had been cut open, the doctor went into shock and died of a subsequent heart attack. Thus, three people died during an operation that was meant to save one life. Originally Western Medicine was a dirty business. It took a lot of work to get hospital practices clean. Liston performed most of his surgeries in the late 1700s and early 1800s, but progress did not make things better. By the 1860s- your chances of surviving a surgery was about 8 in 10, but your odds of surviving the hospital was about 50/50. Infection was a major concern and it took the efforts of many doctors in order to discover, discourage, and make laws to sterilize hospitals around the world. Want to know more? https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200812-the-pioneering-surgeons-who-cleaned-up-filthy-hospitals BAD LUCK: ONE MAN WITNESSED AND SURVIVED BOTH THE BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI.Yes it did happen! One man survived both the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and then later Nagasaki. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was a 29-year-old Naval Engineer on a three-month business trip to Hiroshima. He survived the atomic bomb on August 6th, 1945, despite being less than 2 miles away from ground zero.
On August 7th, he boarded a train back to his hometown of Nagasaki. On August 9th, while being with colleagues at an office building, another boom split the sound barrier. A flash of white light filled the sky. Yamaguchi emerged from the wreckage with only minor injuries on top of his current injuries. He had survived two nuclear blasts in two days. Want to know more about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? https://libguides.pima.edu/c.php?g=1051850&p=7638248 Here are some eyewitness accounts: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nine-harrowing-eyewitness-accounts-bombings-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-180975480/ THERE IS A LADDER IN JERUSALEM, ISRAEL THAT CAN NEVER BE REMOVED.Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a holy landmark for for Christian religions and has been the destination for pilgrimages since the 4th Century. It is also a location that proves that people are unreasonably stubborn to the point of immobility.
During the time when Muslims ruled over the area- there was a hostility toward the many Christian denominations that had taken root in Jerusalem. No one major denomination ever gained control despite some serious efforts at bribery, blackmail, and rioting. Currently the church is shared by six major denominations: Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic Church, with lesser duties shared by Coptic, Ethiopian and Syriac Orthodox churches. The entire edifice has been broken into sections for each of the denominations- with shared areas. A set of complicated rules governs the transit rights of the other groups through each particular section on any given day, and especially during the holidays. However, some of the sections of the church still remain hotly disputed to this day. Arguments and violent clashes are not uncommon. In November 2008 the internet was flooded with videos of a fistfight between Armenian and Greek monks in one such dispute. A small section of the roof of the church is disputed between the Copts and Ethiopians. At least one Coptic monk at any given time sits there on a chair placed on a particular spot to express this claim. On a hot summer day he moved his chair some 20cm more into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile act and violation of status quo. Eleven were hospitalized after a fight resulting from this provocation. In order to solve the issue there is a state of "Status Quo." Meaning that all six religious groups must agree for anything to be changed, altered, cleaned, etc. The famous immovable ladder is a bizarre outcome of this religious stubbornness pushed to extremes. Some time in the first half of the 18th century, someone placed a ladder up against the wall of the church. No one is sure who he was, or more importantly, to which sect he belonged. The ladder remains there to this date. No one dares touch it, lest they disturb the status quo, and provoke the wrath of others. The exact date when ladder was placed is not known but the first evidence of it comes from a 1728 engraving by Elzearius Horn. Want to know more about "Status Quo" in Jerusalem?
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