A few months ago, I got into an argument coinciding with the push to remove Confederate monuments. The argument was over historical revisionism. While not usually a historical revisionist, I do see the need to adjust history to new historical research. As a high school American History teacher, it Read more
The Ancient Romans were very serious about discouraging patricide, murder of a father. If a son (or daughter) killed his pater familias, he was subject to poena cullei – “punishment of the sack”. First, the murderer was beaten with blood-colored clubs while their head was covered by a wolf-hide Read more
The Father of Black History was born on Dec. 18, 1875. Carter Woodson was born to illiterate former slaves in Virginia. His family was so poor that he had to work in the coal mines and did not attend high school until age 20. He graduated in two years Read more
He was born on Dec. 18, 1878. His name was Joseb Besarionis dze Jugashvili. He changed this to Josef Stalin which means “man of the steel hand”. His father was an alcoholic cobbler and his mother was a washerwoman. At age 7, he contracted smallpox which left him with pockmarks Read more
Dec. 16, 1770 is used as his official birth date, but it was actually his baptism day. It is unclear what day he was born on. He was named after his grandfather. His older brother, who died at just six days old, was also named Ludwig. His grandfather and father Read more
*** Take the most sensational of these facts with a grain of salt. Roman historians tended to be very anti-Nero. He was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. His father was a consul and his mother was Agrippina the Younger, sister of Caligula. Supposedly when he was born, his father said: “Nothing Read more
James Doolittle was born on Dec. 14, 1896. He saw his first plane at age 14 and was bitten by the aviation bug. He started making homemade gliders. He left college in 1917 to enlist in the Army Signal Corps Reserve as a flying cadet. He spent WWI in America Read more
In the early 1500’s, Leonardo Da Vinci painted a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of an Italian noble. It became known as the “Mona Lisa” and is now the most famous painting in the world. People ask what makes it such a masterpiece. Some point out the eyes Read more
Sigmund Freud had his problems. He smoked 20 cigars a day most of his life and ended up having thirty operations for mouth cancer. He determined that cocaine was good for his patients and got hooked on it for several years. He introduced his fiancé to it and a Read more
Stetson Kennedy loved Southern and African-American folklore from childhood. When he turned 21, he got a job working for the Works Progress Administration. He headed the Florida Writers’ Project. It collected folklore and oral histories of African-Americans. After WWII, he became interested in civil rights. Since he was unable Read more