Lincoln Freed The Slaves…

Ken AshfordHistory, RaceLeave a Comment

…but some of them "didn’t get the memo".  Or more accurately, some of them were never told about the memo. I wasn’t aware of this, but in the deepest regions of the South, African-Americans were kept as slaves until as late as — wait for it — 1961. More here

Hitler Had Tailpipe Problems

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Footnote to history: It may sound like a Woody Allen scenario, but medical historians are unanimous that Adolf was the victim of uncontrollable flatulence. Spasmodic stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhea, possibly the result of nervous tension, had been Hitler’s curse since childhood and only grew more severe as he aged. As a stressed-out dictator, the agonizing digestive attacks would occur … Read More

The Photo Detective

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

If I could live my life over again, I think I would want this person’s job. With millions of Americans obsessively tracing their roots, Ms. [Maureen] Taylor has emerged as the nation’s foremost historical photo detective. During a recent meeting of the Maine Genealogical Society, attendees lined up a dozen deep as she handled their images with a cotton glove … Read More

Actually, Columbus Was Kind Of A Prick

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Let’s first dismiss the Euro-centric notion that Columbus "discovered" America.  He didn’t.  There were already people — yes, there were actual people — living here, and to suggest that Columbus "discovered" America is to suggest that the people already familiar with the land don’t count (for some reason). Secondly — even if we were to dismiss the millions of Native … Read More

Michael Medved: “Six Inconvenient Truths About The U.S. And Slavery”

Ken AshfordHistory, Race, Right Wing Punditry/Idiocy4 Comments

Michael Medved thinks that America’s involvement with slavery is hyped.  Seriously.  And he’s here to set us straight with an offensive little bit of revisionist history. He lists "six inconvenient truths about the U.S. and slavery" in attempt to convince you, the reader, that — "Hey! Slavery was no biggie!" In his preface, he opens with this: Those who want … Read More

Little Rock — 50 Years Later

Ken AshfordHistory, Race5 Comments

Fascinating article should be read here at Vanity Fair.  It focuses on this famous iconic picture: The picture was taken on September 4, 1957. The black girl is Elizabeth Eckard, one of the Little Rock Nine, the group of black students who attempted to go to school in one of the first desegregated high schools in the South.  Standing behind … Read More

Ken Burns’ “The War”

Ken AshfordHistory2 Comments

My expectations of the new Ken Burns documentary were rather low.  WWII is an awfully big subject, but Burns handled The Civl War, another monumental subject, just fine.  So I was a little disappointed to read that he wasn’t going to treat WWII comprehensively.  Instead, he was going to focus on the impact of the war on four places in … Read More

Gems Of The New York Times

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

As some of you may know, the New York Times has dropped its TimesSelect subscription program, making large parts of its online archive available for freemaking large parts of its online archive available for free.  This means that you no longer have to pay to read some of its editorials (many of which I have linked to in the past, … Read More

Eight Years Later: 9/13 Changed Everything

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

There’s hardly a fictional person alive who can forget the terrible events of September 13, 1999 — the day the nuclear waste plant exploded on the Moon, sending it out of Earth’s orbit and on a journey to galaxies and planets unknown. After that, our fictional world was never the same.  Not only did it reak havoc with the tides … Read More

An Interesting Tribute

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Neil Tillotson cast the first vote in the New Hampshire presidential primary every year from 1960 to 2000. For four decades, his vote was the first one cast in the nation’s selection of the next president. The Dixville Notch resident passed away in 2001 at the age of 102. So the New Hampshire Historical Society is honoring him by offering … Read More

9/11 Before 9/11

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Some objects which pre-dated 9/11/01, taking on signficance only afterward: (1) A postage stamp (2)  A 1979 ad for Pakistani Airlines (click to enlarge) (3)  An ad that ran a few days earlier (4) Tourist coffee mug: More here. UPDATE: And then there’s this.  In March of 2001 Fox TV aired Episode One of a new show spun-off from The … Read More

Fun Fact

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

The next time you hear someone complain about how raunchy current music is today, just point them to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Historian Pounces On Bush

Ken AshfordHistory, IraqLeave a Comment

Not literally, of course (although that would be a great Youtube moment) In Wednesday’s speech Bush said: "’An interesting observation, one historian put it, ‘Had these erstwhile experts’ — he was talking about people criticizing the efforts to help Japan realize the blessings of a free society — he said, ‘Had these erstwhile experts had their way, the very notion … Read More

Alexii Found

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

For those Romanov-ophiles out there, it looks like they found the bodies of Czar Nicholas’ son and the "missing" daughter (probably Maria). Anastasia, as you probably know, didn’t survive — although her story ended up being a good play/movie.