Category Archives: History

Confrontation at the Selma Bridge

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Ann M. for this reminder and for the Art of the Month on-going project Residents will remember our Art of the Month display, “Confrontation at the Selma Bridge,” painted by Jacob Lawrence in 1975. A signed print of … Continue reading →

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U.S. Postal Service honors the late civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis with a stamp

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Pam P. Civil rights giant and former U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who spent decades fighting for racial justice, will be honored with a postage stamp next year. In a Tuesday announcement, the U.S. Postal Service said the stamp … Continue reading →

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Remembering a day in infamy

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Jim deMaine

From historian Heather Cox Richardson

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Veteran’s day history – Heather Cox Richardson

Posted on November 12, 2022 by Jim deMaine
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Holocaust survivor Francine Christophe shares her story

Posted on October 3, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Pam P. In this video interview with Francine Christophe, a Holocaust survivor, you will learn about her experience as an eight-year-old Jewish girl at Bergen-Belsen camp. You’ll be amazed to learn about her selfless act, and the great reward that she … Continue reading →

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A remarkable historian comments on the present

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Heather Cox Richardson is a Professor at Boston College who teaches nineteenth-century American history at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. Her PhD is from Harvard where she studied under David Herbert Donald and William Gienapp. Her early work … Continue reading →

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A historic speech and a challenge to a duel

Posted on August 28, 2022 by Jim deMaine

A history lesson from Heather Cox Richardson

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That wake up call!

Posted on August 19, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Pam P. Remembering the ‘Knocker-Ups’ Hired to Wake Workers With Pea Shooters THE MODERN WORKER ROLLS OUT of bed, groans, and turns off an alarm clock. But industrial-era British and Irish workers relied on a different method for rising … Continue reading →

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Scrolling research with a 300 year old table

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Mary M.

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The future of Social Security – in perspective

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Jim deMaine

by Heather Cox Richardson

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Amazing old photos

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Rosemary W. Ed note: It is doesn’t “load,” try to open in a new tab

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Making ‘scents’ of how Seattle smelled a century ago

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Mary M. BY FELIKS BANELReporting live from Seattle’s past With the arrival of 90+ degree heat this week, downtown Seattle is getting that summer-in-the-city smell once again – part seaweed, part exhaust, with maybe a pinch of rotting garbage … Continue reading →

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Explore The Atlantic

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Mary M.       SUPPORTING SPONSOR     For the first time, subscribers can read every story published in The Atlantic from 1857 to today. Below is a note from our editor in chief about preserving the … Continue reading →

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An inventor promised flights from San Francisco to New York. He created an air disaster instead.

Posted on July 10, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Bob P. Katie Dowd, SFGATE July 10, 2022 Updated: July 10, 2022 6:59 a.m. J.A. Morrell felt very good about his sausage-shaped airship. In February 1908, the inventor boasted it could “take a businessman to New York from San Francisco … Continue reading →

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The rise of reactionaries in the wake of the 1918 flu pandemic

Posted on July 5, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Emergent movements, including a resurgence of the KKK, led to more anti-immigration policy, eugenics laws, religious fundamentalism and conservative leadership. by Knute Berger (thanks to Pam P for sending) Three unidentified Washington Klan members, covered in robes and hoods, are interviewed … Continue reading →

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If Clarence Thomas were consistent, he’d oppose Loving v. Virginia

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Pam P. Ed note: My wife and I were married in Pennsylvania in 1964. This would have been illegal in Virginia at that time. The Loving v. Virginia case of went to the Supreme Court in 1967, giving … Continue reading →

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The new Alito-Cavanaugh-Barrett Line

Posted on June 26, 2022 by Jim deMaine
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A quiet hero

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Pam P. From Wiki: Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE (born Wertheim; 19 May 1909 – 1 July 2015) was a British humanitarian who helped to rescue children who were at risk of oppression by Nazi Germany. Born to German-Jewish parents who had emigrated to Britain at … Continue reading →

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Amazing remembrances in pictures

Posted on June 11, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Sybil-Ann

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The Good Old Days

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Sybil-Ann (and fact checking by Ed M’s son and others–see below) The year is 1922, One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for Year 1922. The average life expectancy for men … Continue reading →

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This Memorial Day, remember the young lives cut short

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Opinion from the Washington Post A prominent journalist of the World War II era complained once about the frequent use of the word “boys” when speaking of U.S. troops in the field. After what they’d been through, he said, they … Continue reading →

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The pen and the sword

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Gordon G.

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Is it more than fun and frolic?

Posted on May 28, 2022 by Jim deMaine

From the Economic Times. For many years, Memorial Day was observed to honor those who had fought and died in the Civil War — but on separate days in the Union States of the North and the Confederate States of … Continue reading →

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Marilyn Monroe v. Samuel Alito

Posted on May 11, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Ed note: Two residents sent me this article by the acerbic Maureen Dowd from the NYT. You may or may not agree, but she writes well and makes some interesting points. Click here to read her op-ed piece.

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Francis Fukuyama Predicted the End of History. It’s Back (Again). At Town Hall tomorrow 5/11.

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Mike C. In a new book, the political theorist offers a stout defense of liberalism against threats from left and right — and predicts that Ukraine will revive “the spirit of 1989.” Click here to read the article … Continue reading →

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