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Elizabeth Nix
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Check out seven facts about this infamous chapter in American history.
British troops faced off against minutemen in Lexington, Mass.
Juneteenth commemorates an effective end of slavery in the United States.
It has to do with ancient Greek mythology, the Olympics and the British royal family.
Harry S. Truman’s unexpected election victory over Thomas Dewey was forever imprinted in history, thanks in part to a famous photo.
One of the most famous examples of ancient Greek sculpture, the Venus de Milo is immediately recognizable by its missing arms and popularly believed to represent Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, who was known to the Romans as Venus. The artwork was discovered in 1820 on the Aegean island of Melos (also […]
Built on the orders of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and located in Great Britain, Hadrian’s Wall was a defensive fortification that marked the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire for three centuries. The wall measured 73 miles in length and stretched from coast to coast across present-day northern England, between Wallsend in the east to […]
One previous president called it 'Shangri-La.'
According to the ancient historian Suetonius, the Roman emperor known as Caligula loved one of his horses, Incitatus, so much that he gave the steed a marble stall, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar and even a house. Another chronicler, Cassius Dio, later wrote that servants fed the animal oats mixed with gold flakes. Famous […]
The holiday was traditionally a more solemn occasion on the Emerald Isle—until Americans got involved.
Among the waterways linking the lakes are the St. Marys River, the Niagara River, and the narrow Straits of Mackinac.
Get the stories behind some of the world’s most iconic photos, from the flag-raising on Iwo Jima to the day Elvis met Nixon.
Explore the story of this literary classic and its author, L. Frank Baum, whose jobs ranged from chicken breeder to frontier storekeeper before he struck literary gold in 1900.
Find out more about the Dutch-born painter, including what he did before becoming an artist, the unusual place where he painted some of his best-known works and why he might not have been responsible for cutting off his own ear.
Estimates suggest the project took about two decades to complete.
The Ancient Egyptian slab helped crack the code of hieroglyphics.
Find out five fascinating facts about the man who famously proclaimed “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
People have been chewing gum, in various forms, since ancient times.
Around A.D. 250, the Maya built flourishing cities. What triggered their decline?
Learn about the notorious Chicago gangster—from the crime he did time for at Alcatraz to his feelings about the nickname 'Scarface.'
For most American kids, it wouldn’t be Halloween without trick-or-treating for candy. But that wasn’t always the case.
Long considered a symbol of strength, the predatory bird first appeared on the national seal in 1782.
Why the elephant and the donkey?
This Republican VP's musical number was eventually covered by a range of artists, including Tommy Edwards, Van Morrison, Elton John, Merle Haggard and Barry Manilow.
The first woman in the modern world to run a country hailed from Southeast Asia. Many have followed.
As the famous saying goes, 'If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.'
1. The job used to go to the person with the second-most votes. The drafters of the Constitution set up a system in which presidents were chosen by members of an Electoral College, and each elector got to vote for two people. The candidate with the most electoral votes (as long as it was a […]
Commanders in chief seeking refuge from Washington politics and weather have retreated to destinations across the U.S. map, from the Jersey Shore to Southern California.
Get the facts on this engineering marvel, which was dedicated in September 1930.
Get the facts about the famous comic strip Peanuts and its creator.
From Humphrey Bogart to Julia Child, find out about seven famous Americans whose relatives came over on the Mayflower.
As a young man, Hitler was a struggling artist who had little money and spent time living in hostels. He fought in World War I then became active in the recently formed Nazi Party. Following the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, in which Hitler and his Nazi cohorts launched a failed coup against the […]
On August 6, 1991, without fanfare, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website while working at CERN, the huge particle physics lab in Switzerland.
The legendary frontiersman's background holds some surprises, including his real opinion on coonskin caps and his poor track record in real estate.
A lifetime appointment comes with some caveats.
The Black infantry regiments fought in the American-Indian Wars, captured cattle thieves and even served as park rangers.
Find out seven surprising facts about how the nation’s highest court works—and how it’s changed over the years.
Check out eight fascinating facts about the world-famous author, including why his riverboat career was marred by tragedy and who served as the real-life model for Huck Finn.
Find out more about this Old West icon, from how he met his friend Doc Holliday to what happened to him after the Tombstone gunfight.
Paul Revere gets all the glory but he wasn’t the only one to make a daring late-night ride to warn that the British were coming. In 1781, during the Revolutionary War (and six years after Revere’s ride), a 26-year-old Virginian, John “Jack” Jouett, made a dangerous, 40-mile dash on horseback to Monticello, the home of […]
The iconic Indian activist, known for his principle of nonviolent resistance, had humble beginnings and left an outsized legacy.
The name references the year when thousands of prospectors flocked to California to strike gold.
The epic race to standardize the electrical system—later known as the War of the Currents—lit up 19th-Century America.
Get the facts on the iconic Italian astronomer and physicist.
Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree when he was bonked on the head by a falling piece of fruit, a 17th-century “aha moment” that prompted him to suddenly come up with his law of gravity. In reality, things didn’t go down quite like that. Newton, the son […]
Find out more about this fascinating Englishman, from the job he held that involved sending people to the gallows to the cause of one of his most bitter rivalries.
Check out seven things you may not know about the iconic entertainer.
Find out how members of the animal kingdom have helped shape history for mankind, from paving the way for human space flight to bringing down Bin Laden.
American presidents can be elected to two, four-year terms in office (or a maximum of 10 years in a case of a president who ascended to the position as vice president), thanks to the 22nd Amendment, which was ratified in 1951. However, vice presidents, like members of the U.S. Congress, face no such restrictions on […]
The arrival of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's first child was historic for Britain—but royal births, and the many traditions that surround them, have been an object of fascination for centuries.
Learn the surprising facts behind the deaths of six politicians who died in the line of duty.
Find out some fascinating facts about this iconic American landmark.
Find out about some of history’s deadliest—and lesser-known—shipwrecks.
From a deep-sea pioneer to the man credited with the modern discovery of Machu Picchu, get to know five intrepid explorers.
The influence of these men led to deadly consequences around the globe.
Find out more about the famous waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
From a murderer who claimed he was a Rockefeller to a woman who passed as a male soldier during the U.S. Civil War, get the story behind six of history's most fascinating phonies.
From Pullman, Illinois, to Hershey, Pennsylvania, learn about life in towns built and once controlled by a single company.
From baseball player Moe Berg to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” author Roald Dahl, learn about six famous people who once were wartime secret agents.
Between his days as a teenage Confederate guerrilla and his murder at age 34, James became one of America’s most notorious outlaws.
Learn about six fascinating double agents, from the FBI counterspy who brought down a major espionage ring in the United States to the operative who fooled the Nazis about D-Day.
From Erik the Red, who founded Greenland’s first Norse settlement, to Cnut the Great, who ruled a vast empire in northern Europe, find out about six fascinating figures of the Viking Age.
From the business setback that spurred him to develop Mickey Mouse to that persistent cryogenics myth, discover seven fascinating facts about this entertainment legend.
From the millionaire who shot the high-society architect to the pioneering photographer who slayed a romantic rival, find out about five famous defendants who were ultimately acquitted of murder.
From the origins of his famous name to the mystery surrounding his death, the legendary American outlaw.
From the development of his massive Spruce Goose aircraft to his involvement in a top-secret CIA plot to recover a Soviet sub, get the facts about the eccentric billionaire.
Get the facts on the iconic ancient monument, including how it once ended up on the auction block and what the wizard Merlin and Charles Darwin have to do with it.
From the Union officers who tunneled out of a Confederate POW camp to the 18th-century nobleman who fled the Tower of London in drag, get the stories behind eight notable prison breaks.
Get the facts on the turbulent life of this Tudor monarch—England's first queen regnant.
From Drake’s Plate of Brass to the Archaeoraptor fossil, explore seven fascinating historical hoaxes.
Find out how these three priceless objects were recovered and learn how stolen items associated with Walt Whitman and King Croesus also have happy endings.
Explore the celebrated roadway, which was made obsolete by high-speed interstates and decommissioned by the federal government in 1985—although much of it remains drivable today.
Find out more about the Medici family, who encouraged the careers of such luminaries as Michelangelo and Galileo and whose members included popes, queens and a long line of dukes.
It was Kinderhook, New York's favorite son, Martin van Buren.
After Christian fighters captured Jerusalem during the First Crusade, groups of pilgrims from across Western Europe began visiting the Holy Land. Around 1118, a French knight named Hugues de Payens founded a military order devoted to protecting these pilgrims, calling it the Poor Knights of the Temple of King Solomon—later the Knights Templar. In 1129, […]
“You have the right to remain silent.” You’ve probably heard those words, which are part of the Miranda warning, on countless TV shows following a criminal suspect’s arrest. Thanks to a 1966 landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Miranda v. Arizona, the warning—which also lets a person know that anything […]
Casey Jones was a locomotive engineer who became a folk hero after his death in a train crash in 1900 was commemorated in a number of songs. According to legend, Jones died with one hand on the train’s whistle and the other hand on its brake. Born John Luther Jones in Missouri in 1863, the […]
Forget almost every Viking costume you’ve ever seen. Yes, the pugnacious Scandinavians probably sported headgear when they marched into battle, but there’s no reason to believe it was festooned with horns. In depictions dating from the Viking age—between the eighth and 11th centuries—warriors appear either bareheaded or clad in simple helmets likely made of either […]
An explosion that initially looked like an accident, turned out to be an act of sabotage.
Following the American Civil War, if someone called you a carpetbagger or scalawag, it wasn’t meant as a compliment. The term carpetbagger was used by opponents of Reconstruction—the period from 1865 to 1877 when the Southern states that seceded were reorganized as part of the Union—to describe Northerners who moved to the South after the […]
The short answer is no, though it’s hard to pinpoint precisely when the World War I and World War II—or First World War and Second World War—monikers arose. During World War I, of course, nobody knew that a second global conflict would follow closely on the heels of the first, so there was no need […]
There are a number of theories, including ones that involve dust and clay.
On July 21, 1861, Washingtonians trekked to the countryside near Manassas, Virginia, to watch the first major battle of the American Civil War.
In 1886, German inventor Karl Benz patented what is generally regarded as the first modern car. Less than two decades later, in 1903, Massachusetts and Missouri became the first states to require a driver’s license, although it wasn’t necessary to pass a test to obtain one. In 1908, Henry Ford launched the Model T, the […]
In 1889, people poured into central Oklahoma to stake their claims to nearly 2 million acres opened for settlement by the U.S. government. Those who entered the region before the land run’s designated starting time, at noon on April 22, 1889, were dubbed “sooners.” The area to which the settlers flocked was known as the […]
The bugle melody played at U.S. military memorials and as a lights-out cue for armed forces had its start in the Civil War.
A diplomatic incident between the United States and France in 1797 outraged Americans and led to an undeclared war.
In order to track the disease’s full progression, researchers provided no effective care as the study's African American participants experienced severe health problems including blindness, mental impairment—or death.
Clarence Birdseye took note of how Indigenous Canadians 'flash froze' their fish—and forever changed the way Americans ate.
There's a few different ways to calculate.
The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal that rocked France between 1894 and 1906 and revealed growing antisemitism across Europe.
Before Washington, D.C., became America’s capital in 1800, the Congress met in a number of different locations, including Baltimore, Trenton and New York City. After years of debate by the new nation’s leaders about the selection of a permanent seat of government, Congress passed the Residence Act in July 1790, which declared that the capital […]
She supposedly cared for American soldiers during the war—and then took over for one of them when he could no longer fight.
Commonly seen on doctor’s prescription pads and signs in pharmacies, Rx is the symbol for a medical prescription. According to most sources, Rx is derived from the Latin word “recipe,” meaning “take.” Among several alternative theories, however, is the belief that the Rx symbol evolved from the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol associated […]
Ancient mariners used to gauge how fast their ship was moving by throwing a piece of wood or other floatable object over the vessel’s bow then counting the amount of time that elapsed before its stern passed the object. This method was known as a Dutchman’s log. By the late 16th century, sailors had begun […]
The barber pole’s colors are a legacy of a (thankfully) long-gone era when people went to barbers not just for a haircut or shave but also for bloodletting and other medical procedures. During the Middle Ages bloodletting, which involves cutting open a vein and allowing blood to drain, was a common treatment for a wide […]