NewsInHistory Blog

On May 31, 1921, a terrifying and shameful incident in American history began: a race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during which a white mob destroyed the Greenwood district, a prosperous African American neighborhood. The death toll from the riot is officially 39—26 blacks, 13 whites—but the real number of deaths will probably never be known. What is known is that during 16 hours of terror, more than 1,200 residences were burned and around 10,000 people left homeless. read more...

The controversy over slavery was tearing America apart in the 1850s and complicating the application of two territories—Kansas and Nebraska—that wanted to enter the Union. Rather than tackle the slavery issue directly, Congress instead passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 with a “popular sovereignty” provision, which said that settlers in those two territories could decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. read more...

When Winfield Scott—the nation’s leading military man for more than half of the 19th century—died on May 29, 1866, his passing was announced and his memory honored in newspapers all across the country. Even Southern newspapers, although the region was embittered over the Confederacy’s recent defeat, paid tribute to the man who served longer as a general in the U.S. Army (47 years) than anyone in American history. read more...

At five minutes past 11 o’clock the morning of May 29, 1866, an aged, infirm and feeble Winfield Scott—having lost his voice two hours previously—reached out to clasp the hand of the chaplain at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), and quietly died. Thus ended the life of arguably America’s greatest military leader of the 19th century. His death, 15 days before his 80th birthday, was the final chapter in a 53-year Army career (1808-61) that was without precedent. read more...

The Civil War era is an abundant source of fascinating letters, from military personnel as well as civilians. The following letter is a good example. It was written by a Confederate woman in Tennessee to her prisoner-of-war cousin held in Indiana. The letter was printed by a Northern newspaper to mock the “Nashville She Rebel” for her bloodthirsty vows and poor spelling. However, there is no denying the fierce spirit of resistance and independence in her letter, in defiance of the fact that Confederate forces in Tennessee were reeling during the spring of 1862. read more...

America in the 1850s was a nation sharply divided over the issue of slavery, a conflict that in 1861 would lead to the tragedy and destruction of the Civil War. read more...

Hollywood is notorious for simplifying and glorifying stories about outlaws (think of the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” with Paul Newman and Robert Redford), and the movie “Bonnie and Clyde” is part of that tradition. This 1967 film, starring the handsome duo of Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, portrayed Bonnie and Clyde as reckless and daring, madly in love with a devil-may-care approach to life and crime. The reality is far less glamorous. read more...

The “Harlem Renaissance” was a period of African American creativity in art, music and literature that flourished in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood during the 1920s and 1930s. One of the leading thinkers and authors of that period was Langston Hughes, a prolific writer of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, children’s stories, essays, and lyrics for operas and musicals. When he died of complications arising from prostate cancer on May 22, 1967, at the age of 65, Hughes left behind a great body of lasting work that still carries influence today. read more...