Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Thanks to Sheltie for subbing last week. It’s the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, a short but powerful dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, about which many myths have grown up over the … Continue reading The History Thread Will Little Note Nor Long Remember
Sheltie, subbing for Agnew, here! With the impending Thanksgiving holiday, let’s take a look back at the eating habits of one of the more obscure Roman emperors, Vitellius. Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Augustus (15-69 AD) was a proconsul turned commander of … Continue reading The November 12 History Thread Feasts Like Vitellius
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Remember, remember how today is the 414th anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ arrest for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot to destroy Parliament and restore England to a Catholic theocracy. Try to remember that before … Continue reading The Treasonous History Thread
At the dawn of the 20th Century, modern understanding of death, medicine, and infectious diseases effectively ended the Vampire Panic, but also vampires themselves changed. In 1897, five years after Mercy Brown was exhumed, Bram Stoker publish his seminal novel; … Continue reading The Vampires of Rhode Island: I Am Waiting And Watching For You. Nellie Vaughn, 19, West Greenwich 1889
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s picture: On October 28-29, 1922 Benito Mussolini and his fascist Blackshirts carried out their March on Rome, consolidating fascist power in Italy. The culmination of three years of political ferment, it was a … Continue reading The Weekly History Thread Marches
In the Late 19th century Rhode Island was a state of contradictions. In the north, the factories and mills of Providence stood at the vanguard of the American Industrial Revolution. To the south, at the height of the Gilded Age, … Continue reading The Vampires of Rhode Island: The Last Vampire. Mercy Brown, 19, Exeter 1892
In 1874 fifteen year old Ruth Ellen Rose, her body wracked by consumption, was laid to rest. Ruth Ellen was the daughter of William Rose, a local civic leader, and his first wife the late Mary Rose née Taylor. Ruth … Continue reading The Vampires of Rhode Island: Not Unfamiliar With This Plague. Ruth Ellen Rose, 15, Exeter 1874
Levi Young and his wife Anna’s farm was bountiful. The native corn, potatoes, and onions provided steady income for the family. Anna Young’s preserves , made from wild blackberries, was renowned locally, and were even fetching a good price in … Continue reading The Vampires of Rhode Island: Bright, Like An Angel. Nancy Young, 19, Foster. 1827
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s picture: On October 22, 1844, the world ended. Or so predicted William Miller, a Baptist lay priest from New York who interpreted a passage from Daniel 8:14 (“Unto two thousand and three hundred … Continue reading The History Thread is a Great Disappointment
Stuckley Tillinghast was known to be a jovial good-natured man. He managed to provide decently for his family by selling his apples across Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. Honour, his wife, kept a busy well-ordered household, watching over the couples … Continue reading The Vampires of Rhode Island: Half An Orchard Died. Sarah Tillinghast, 19, Exeter. 1799
It is a harrowing disease, one of the deadliest across history, it’s victims are left in a pallid state , their eyes blood red; wracked by extreme fever and night sweats, their weight plummets as they simply waste away. If … Continue reading The Vampires of Rhode Island: Voted That This Council Be Dissolved. Abigail Staples, 23, Cumberland. 1796
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Days of Rage protest in Chicago. While other antiwar organizers prepared for the National Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, a radical splinter of the Students … Continue reading The History Thread is All the Rage
Welcome to the History Thread! I didn’t have time to prepare a header today, but that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss history in the thread below. Continue reading The Weekly History Thread
This week’s History Thread falls on two seminal days in American history: the signing of the Constitution in 1787, and the Battle of Antietam seventy-five years later. The former created the document which remains, with a number of amendments, the … Continue reading A History Thread, if You Can Keep It
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! My apologies for missing last week, I have no good excuse other than being otherwise occupied. This week’s picture: on September 10, 1897 a miner’s strike at Lattimer, PA turned violent. After the usual … Continue reading The Striking Weekly History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today is the 136th anniversary of the eruption of Krakatoa, one of the largest and most destructive volcanic events in modern history. After several months of gas emissions and preliminary explosions, the volcano (located … Continue reading The Loud Weekly History Thread
Sixth in a series of articles on McCarthyism and the Red Scare; see Parts One, Two, Three, Four and Five. By any standards, Ruth A. M. Schmidt was a remarkable woman. Born in Brooklyn in April 1916, Schmidt became interested … Continue reading How We Got Here: Ruth Schmidt Browses the Washington Bookshop
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! It’s the 51st anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which crushed the Prague Spring and its reformist government under Alexander Dubcek. Continue reading The Weekly History Thread With a Human Face
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today is the anniversary of Cortes’s conquest of Tenochtitlan and the fall of the Aztec Empire. Discuss what you will, it is an open thread today. Continue reading The Weekly History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread. Today is the 400th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Virginia General Assembly, the first European-led legislative body in the New World. Naturally, it has sparked controversy, from discussions about the acknowledgment of … Continue reading The 400th Anniversary History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! This week’s discussion question is judging the past through modern eyes. It’s hard not to look at past events without using our own lens of judgment. How much are you willing to forgive, or … Continue reading The Judgmental History Thread
