The planners of National Train Day– May 9th– are searching for surviving Pullman porters, who will be honored at a celebration in Philadelphia. By the late 1920s, 20,000 African American men served luxury train travelers as porters. Porters influenced the civil rights movement by forming the first black labor union. The men in effect birthed the black [...]
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Last week a bill was introduced in the U. S. Senate to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 300 surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots. The WASP were a group of over a thousand who logged 60 million miles flying military aircraft across the United States. The women were required to complete pilot training before [...]
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Descendants of Apache warrior Geronimo are suing Yale University and the members of the Order of Skull & Bones, a student club, in order to retrieve the remains of the 19th Indian leader. The lawsuit claims that in 1918 or 1919, Skull & Bones members opened Geronimo’s tomb at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and took parts [...]
Monday, November 24, 2008
A report by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute states that 71% of people in a random sample failed a 33 question test on American civic literacy. Fewer than half could name the three branches of government. Elected officials did even worse, scoring 5% lower than non-officeholders. The average score among those who ended their formal education [...]
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tomorrow is the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day, when Germany and the Allies signed an agreement to end hostilities on the Western Front of the “war to end all wars.” There is one surviving U.S. veteran of the First World War, 107-year-old Frank Woodruff Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia. Earlier this year, Buckles took [...]
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Because of rising fuel prices, the Erie Canal, originally completed in 1825, is making a comeback. Commercial shippers have found that the Canal offers the most fuel-efficient means of transport between the East Coast and the upper Midwest. So far this year, 42 shipments have passed along the Canal, up from 15 during last year’s [...]
Monday, October 27, 2008
Beginning Friday, a California company will begin offering zeppelin tours of the San Francisco Bay area. The zeppelin (distinct from the blimp in that it has a rigid internal frame covered with canvas) was invented in the late 19th century and used for passenger and military transport until the start of the Second World War. [...]
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Many people are wondering if the U.S. (and the world) are in for an era similar to that beginning Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929– a stock market crash leading to many years of economic hardship. Here is a pathfinder (PDF file) to books for adult and young readers about the events and personalities of the Great Depression and the [...]
Monday, September 15, 2008
2009 will mark the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. As part of that commemoration, the city of Louisville is about to have a bronze statue of the Kentucky-born president cast for its 72-acre Waterfront Park on the Ohio River. The memorial will also include a four part bas relief flanking a path leading to the [...]
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The federal government may eventually reopen the Statue of Liberty’s crown, closed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The National Park Service currently allows visits to the statue’s pedestal only. The Park Service has commissioned a study to determine if the narrow staircase leading to the crown can be modified to conform to [...]
Monday, April 6, 2009
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