The Jim Crow Era: A Stain On America’s Past

Wondrium: "An African American named Homer Plessy predated Rosa Parks' famous refusal to comply with racist transportation laws by more than 60 years. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction for sitting in a whites-only train car in Plessy v. Ferguson, leading to the Jim Crow era. Discover hard history and how "separate but equal" was …

‘Vanderbilt’ By Anderson Cooper

CBS Sunday Morning: In his 2021 book, CNN anchor and "60 Minutes" correspondent Anderson Cooper "tells the story of the Vanderbilt family dynasty – from his great-great-great-grandfather, Cornelius 'Commodore' Vanderbilt, once the richest man in America who built his fortune through steamships and railroads, to his mother, socialite Gloria Vanderbilt. Cooper talks with correspondent Mo …

The Readjusters: Virginia’s Radical Reformers After Reconstruction

For a brief period after Reconstruction, ex-Confederates allied politically with ex-slaves to "stick it to the rich," in a kind-of populist rebellion, a coalition of poor whites and poor blacks. Google has quite a few links on this movement. It was particularly popular in Virginia, and in the town of Petersburg, which seemed to birth …

President James Garfield, R, Elected in 1880, Was Strongly Pro-Civil Rights

President James Garfield (1831-1881) of Ohio spoke strongly in favor of civil rights for African Americans. But he did not live to see legislation enacted because he was assassinated a little over six months after taking office. The new president, Chester A. Arthur, did not share his views and was far more aligned with big …

Teddy Roosevelt Lost Both His Wife and Mother on Valentine’s Day, 1884

Teddy Roosevelt (1858-1919), one of America's greatest presidents, when he was just 25 years old, lost his beloved wife Alice and his mother, Martha, to separate diseases. Alice died in childbirth, in complications related to Bright's, or an unspecified kidney disease. Martha died of typhoid. Historian Heather Cox Richardson explained in this essay.

3 Remarkable Events in Scandinavian History

A great piece of Scandinavian history and travel-writing from Ben & Glinda Shipley, professional photographers and newspaper travel columnists. They begin on June 8, 793 AD, when the Vikings invaded an island off the coast of northeast Britain. They "spent the next few days slaughtering the godly, enslaving every woman of childbearing age, and sailing …

How British Colonialism Killed 100 Million Indians in 40 Years

Between 1880 to 1920, British colonial policies in India claimed more lives than all famines in the Soviet Union, Maoist China and North Korea combined, write two academics who study India, in an article for Al Jazeera. "According to research by the economic historian Robert C Allen, extreme poverty in India increased under British rule, …

Tyranny of the MAP: How Power Brokers, Whether European Colonialists or American Politicians, Use Borders to Manage Conflict

Crash Course Geography: "Borders can bring people together, evoke passion and war, divide, conquer, and solidify power. We’re going to focus on the tyranny of the map which is what happens when those in power draw boundaries in ways that conflict with how people in that place want to be grouped. We’ll look at the …

64 Years of American History: 1865 to 1929, in 14.5 minutes from Khan Academy

Khan Academy, 2011, offered American history quite over-simplified, but a valuable overview. Can you list some of the very important things that are left out? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmBV87XA52Q What to Leave Out of American History Intro Course?

Grover Cleveland Opposed High Tariffs. But Big Business Ultimately Took Him Down

Beginning in the 1870s, wealthy businessmen in post-civil-war America sought high tariffs to protect their industries and keep out foreign competition. They colluded to raise prices on consumers, and money moved to the top of the economy. "By the 1880s, Republican senators were openly serving big business; even the staunchly Republican Chicago Tribune lamented in 1884 that …