The famous painting was by German-American artist Emanuel Leutze in his Dusseldorf, Germany studio in 1850-51. Leutze grew up in America and then returned to his homeland. He painted it after the failed Revolution of 1848 in the hope that it would inspire liberal reforms. It was first displayed in Read more
St. Nicholas was born around 280 in present-day Turkey. According to legend, he gave away his inherited fortune to the poor. In the most famous story, he kept three sisters out of slavery or prostitution by dropping bags of gold down their chimney for their dowries. He was depicted Read more
Sarah Breedlove was born on Dec. 23, 1867 on a Louisiana cotton plantation. She started as the child of poor sharecroppers and ended up as one of the richest women in America. She was the first of her parent’s kids to be born in freedom, but other than that Read more
The idea of Christmas trees goes way back in time. Before the first Christmas, people in the Northern Hemisphere associated evergreen trees with perpetual life. They knew that the winter solstice was the shortest day of the year and from that point on you could look forward to spring Read more
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