It took three tries, but on March 21, 1965, several thousand demonstrators led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began a Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery that succeeded in reaching the Alabama state capital. read more...
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Alaska’s Iditarod dog sled race is a grueling test of endurance for both humans and dogs, as competitors follow a trail more than 1,100 miles long through forests, over mountains and across frozen rivers. The sled drivers and dog teams are often caught in fierce blizzards that cause white-out conditions and can bring a wind-chill factor of 100 degrees below zero! Begun in 1973, the first 12 Iditarod races were won by men—but that all changed in the 13th race. read more...
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The nation achieved a historic first when the 99th Pursuit Squadron (the “Tuskegee Airmen”) was activated on March 19, 1941, the first African American unit of the Army Air Corps. Over 250 men were trained at Chanute Field in Rantoul, Illinois. In June the base of operations was switched to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, giving the group its more famous name. The formation of this unit was seen as an experiment; many whites were skeptical that blacks had the intelligence, and even the courage, to become skilled fighter pilots. read more...
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It remains a mystery, one that perhaps may never be solved. This much is clear: early in the morning of March 18, 1990, two thieves dressed as Boston police officers tricked the pair of security guards at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum into granting them entry. Once inside, they bound and gagged the guards and stole 13 immensely valuable works of art, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The thieves have never been caught, and the stolen treasures have never turned up—23 years and counting… read more...
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Every now and then in the annals of history one comes across incredible stories of great courage and heroism. Such is the story of Captain Lawrence Oates, who on March 17, 1912, stepped out of an Antarctic expedition’s tent into a blizzard, knowing full well he was walking to his certain death. Oates realized his weakened condition was slowing down his three companions and increasing the chances they would not survive the return trip (the party had reached the South Pole on January 18). Oates told the men: “I am just going outside and may be some time.” Then he stepped out, and was gone. read more...
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The state of Maine is rugged country, with its rocky North Atlantic shoreline, mountainous, heavily-forested interior, and demanding winters. Its people are hardy, as they have to be in coping with its weather and geography. This tenacity served Maine’s citizens well in their early 19th century fight for statehood, because their application for admission into the Union triggered a nationwide debate over slavery. read more...
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St. Paul, Minnesota, was buzzing on March 14, 1884, because an unusual and very important visitor had arrived: Sitting Bull, a chief and holy man of the Hunkpapa Lakota Indians, wanted to see firsthand a large city and the ways of the whites. Once a powerful warrior and a fierce defender of his people and their land, Sitting Bull had been one of the principal leaders of the large encampment of Lakota and Cheyenne that George Armstrong Custer attacked on June 25, 1876. That ill-fated attack cost Custer his life, along with 267 of the men he led that day. read more...
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On March 13, 1906, pioneering activist Susan B. Anthony died at the age of 86. Anthony spent much of her long life involved in the anti-slavery, temperance, and women’s rights movements—especially the latter, in which she became a leader in the drive to secure women's right to vote.
When she was 52, Anthony was arrested, tried and convicted for the crime of daring to vote in the 1872 Presidential Election. She persisted in her efforts with unwavering dedication, declaring a few years before she died that national women’s suffrage “...will come, but I shall not see it.” read more...
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Around 3:30 the morning of March 13, 1964, one of the most infamous murders in American history occurred when Winston Moseley stabbed Catherine “Kitty” Genovese to death in Queens, New York. While the murder was awful enough, what shocked America were reports that 38 neighbors witnessed the assault and heard her screams—yet no one lifted a finger to help her or even bothered to call the police. Nearly 50 years later, there is still a great deal of confusion surrounding this murder case. read more...
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When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the nation’s 32nd president on March 4, 1933, the United States was in the midst of the economic collapse known as the “Great Depression.” Roosevelt knew he had two formidable tasks before him: fix the nation’s economy, and restore the people’s confidence. He set to work at once tackling both challenges. read more...
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I understand that when writing a blog, it’s necessary to show a picture and say a few words about yourself, so that people don’t think a nameless, faceless committee or advisory board is running the show. Here I am, a real person. My name is Tony Pettinato, and I live in Deerfield, Mass. I did my undergraduate studies in English at Oberlin College, my graduate work in Journalism at UC Berkeley, and have been a reporter for six newspapers. For the past fourteen years I have worked at NewsBank, six of those as a managing editor for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set project – NewsBank’s acclaimed effort that digitized and indexed twelve million pages of primary source documents – that gratified my lifelong interest in American history. And that led me to editing this history blog!
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