Wikimedia Commons/Sicnag Creating A Sports Car To Challenge Corvette After World War II, many American soldiers came home driving European sports cars. General Motors noticed this trend and launched the Corvette in 1953. Ford needed to compete. Lewis Crusoe, a former GM executive now working for Henry Ford II, teamed up with Ford’s design chief … Read more
Flickr/CharmaineZoe’s Marvelous Melange The July 6, 1944 Hartford Circus Fire Thousands of families packed the circus tent on a hot Thursday afternoon for what should have been pure joy. Instead, 167 people never made it home, and two-thirds of the dead were children. The Great Wallendas were just starting their trapeze act when flames erupted … Read more
Wikimedia Commons/Smithsonian Institution Photographed by Watson Davis The 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial” The Scopes trial began on July 10, 1925, in Dayton, Tennessee. John Scopes, a young teacher, was accused of breaking the Butler Act by teaching evolution in school. This law made it illegal for teachers to challenge divine creation or teach that humans … Read more
Shutterstock Manzanar National Historic Site The U.S. government forced 120,000 Japanese Americans from their West Coast homes in 1942. Manzanar became one of ten camps where these Americans found themselves imprisoned without trial or charges. The camp stood in California’s Owens Valley between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the high desert. Officials picked this remote … Read more
Flickr/Ron Cogswell Colonial Williamsburg Middle Plantation took root in American history in 1632. English settlers built this stronghold during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War, a fight between colonists and Native American tribes led by Chief Opechancanough. The settlement claimed higher ground between the York and James Rivers. The Virginia Assembly made a bold move on May … Read more
Shutterstock Hershey, Pennsylvania Milton Hershey broke ground for his chocolate factory in Derry Church, Pennsylvania, in 1903. This rural area held just 700 residents when the first shovel hit dirt. The factory transformed everything. Smokestacks rose where farm fields once stretched. Production lines started churning out chocolate bars in 1905. The population swelled to 1,500 … Read more
Shutterstock Antelope Canyon Water carved this golden sandstone canyon over centuries near Page, Arizona on Navajo land. The Navajo call the upper section Tsé bighánílíní, meaning “the place where water runs through rocks.” They name the lower section Hazdistazí, or “spiral rock arches.” Upper Antelope Canyon stays wide at ground level, letting sunlight create famous … Read more
Wikimedia Commons/Pubdog St. Mary’s City, Maryland George Calvert wanted a place where people of all faiths could worship freely. He asked King Charles I for land to build this colony. George died before his dream came true. His son Cecil took over the mission and the title of Second Lord Baltimore. Cecil sent his brothers … Read more
Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation USS Yorktown Hellcat Combat Debut (South Carolina) Task Force 15 approached Marcus Island before dawn on August 31, 1943. Aboard USS Yorktown, VF-5 pilots climbed into their untested F6F Hellcats for the type’s first combat mission iton the Pacific Theatre. The results were devastating. Four air strikes … Read more
Wikimedia Commons/Bureau of Land Management A Legislative Victory After Many Failures On May 20, 1862, President Lincoln grabbed his pen and changed America forever. Congress tried to pass homestead bills three times before. The House approved each time, but the Senate blocked them. But in one signature, Lincoln opened 160 million acres of western land … Read more