A few weeks ago I was looking up something US history related on wikipedia and I found this entry: Robert Smalls.

I want to see a movie about this guy:

Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839–February 23, 1915) was a slave who, during and after the Civil War, became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself and his family from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, the USS Planter, to freedom in Charleston harbor. He was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, and eventually became a politician—serving in both the South Carolina State legislature and the United States House of Representatives. During his political career, Smalls authored legislation that created the first free and compulsory public school system in America in South Carolina, founded the Republican Party of South Carolina, and successfully convinced President Lincoln to accept African American soldiers into the Union army. He is notable as the last Republican to represent South Carolina's 5th congressional district.

Labels: Black History, Civil War, history, Reconstruction

I for one am so excited for this ten part series: "Oliver Stone's 'Secret History' to put Hitler 'in context'".

Just the other night my brother was over and we were talking post-WWI Germany. I'm serious! I totally get what Stone is saying here ...

Labels: history, Oliver Stone

Aw junk! I forgot to mention this - yesterday was the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of my great-great-great grandfather William Hall.

I have to wonder what Windham, Maine looked like on December 29, 1809 ...

UPDATE: Yes, I know it was technically Windham, Massachusetts in 1809.

Labels: genealogy, history, Windham

Very interesting article in yesterday's Los Angeles Times: "USC offers America 101 for foreign students".

This class pretty much combines History and pop culture ... two of my favorite things.

Wonder if it's available on iTunes U? I'd take that class ...

Labels: college, history, LA Times, USC

This is a pretty clever list from Foreign Policy:

On this day in 1999...

Lou Dobbs was a respected, middle-of-the-road journalist.

The prospect of achieving Middle East peace seemed imminent.

Beltway pundits believed Al Gore and George W. Bush were centrists who would govern similarly.

You could meet your loved ones at their arrival gate.

There were more than 2 million Christians living in Iraq.

Osama bin Laden was living with his family in a compound in Kandahar.

China's GDP was $1.4 trillion, half of Germany's.

Israel still had troops in Lebanon.

Nobody had ever heard of Somali pirates.

Something called Inktomi was the world's largest search engine.

Everybody was clamoring for the new file-sharing program Napster.


We worried Y2K would bring the global banking infrastructure to its knees.

Illinois State Senator Barack Obama campaigned for a spot in the House of Representatives.

First Lady Hillary Clinton campaigned for a spot in the Senate.

Wasilla, Alaska, Mayor Sarah Palin considered running for state-wide office.

India had fewer than a billion citizens.

Strongman Slobodan Milosevic still ruled in Yugoslavia.

The human genome had not yet been mapped.

The Concorde flew between Paris and New York.

Alan Greenspan was widely heralded as the world's greatest financial thinker.

Boris Yeltsin was preparing to step down and make way for the young pragmatist Vladimir Putin.

The Dow Jones closed at 11,484. (Today, it's at 10,545.)

The United States had a record federal budget surplus.

Souce: "Food for thought..."

Labels: Foreign Policy, history

History and art together - awesome!

"Picturing the Past 10 Years".

Labels: 2000s, art, history, NY Times