Classroom Pronunciation Reductions Grammar Conversation Reading Listening Vocabulary Activities Videos
Idioms Slang Acronyms Phonics Portmanteau Words Handwriting Alphabet Surveys Tests
Holidays Movies Everyday Environment Learning News Places Flashcards Study Literacy
World America History Drive Education Teaching Dictionary Resources About Contact
 
Reconstruction (1866-1877)
 
Reconstruction (1866-1877)

The history of the United States of America. Stories from Reconstruction (1866-1877).
Quick Links
American
History
Colonial Revolutionary New Nation Expansion Civil War
Reconstruction Gilded Age Progressive Great War Depression
Modern Era
A Woman on a Mission

September 6, 1860 - Activist Jane Addams Was Born

As a young woman, Jane Addams did not know what she wanted to do with her life. Born September 6, 1860, in Cedarville, Illinois, Addams grew up in an era when women were expected to marry and raise children. Addams knew she wanted to do something different.

She found the inspiration that would lead her to fight for the rights of children, help the poor, and become the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

After recovering from an illness, Addams went on a tour of Europe in 1883-85 and 1887-88. She and her traveling companion, Ellen Gates Starr, discovered Toynbee Hall in London, the world's first settlement house, which is an institution that provides community services. Toynbee helped the poor by providing them with social services. Hoping to do the same for poor immigrants in Chicago, Addams and Starr returned to Illinois and rented the former Hull mansion in Chicago.

At first, Hull House opened a kindergarten and provided assistance to needy families, but so much more was needed. What could two people do to tackle the enormous problems brought on by poverty?

As more people, mostly women, came to help, Hull House expanded to include a nursery, adult education classes, social clubs, and a community kitchen.

At the center's first Christmas party, Addams was surprised when several little girls refused the candy she offered them. The girls, she discovered, worked long hours in a candy factory. Soon, Addams, Starr, and others at Hull House worked toward establishing child labor laws. They also fought for equal rights for women and in international peace.

Today, Hull House continues to build on Addams's work. Jane Addams found her inspiration from London's Toynbee Hall. Where will you discover your life's inspiration?
 
Education for All!

January 9, 1866 - Fisk School Opens

Imagine what it would be like if you were not allowed to go to school to learn while others around you were. After they were freed from slavery when the Civil War ended in 1865, African Americans thirsted for books and education, but were not allowed to attend schools where white kids went. Guess what happened.

The Fisk School, created for black students, opened its doors for the first time on January 9, 1866, in former army barracks in Nashville, Tennessee. The school was named after General Clinton B. Fisk, who provided the building.

The idea for Fisk School was born soon after the Civil War. A group called the American Missionary Association, formed in 1846 from three antislavery societies, helped to found Fisk School (later to become Fisk University), along with other historically black colleges, including Atlanta, Hampton, and Howard universities. The idea was to offer the best education a university could offer an individual, regardless of race. The first students at Fisk ranged in age from 7 to 70, all ex-slaves eager to learn. These historically black colleges still exist, and today African Americans are welcome at all colleges.
 
Working 9 to 5

August 20, 1866 - National Labor Union Requested an Eight-Hour Workday

How many hours is a reasonable workday? On August 20, 1866, the National Labor Union, made up of skilled and unskilled workers, farmers, and reformers, called on Congress to order an eight-hour workday.

The National Labor Union was created to pressure Congress to make labor law reforms. The Union failed to persuade Congress to shorten the workday and the labor organization itself dissolved in 1873. However, its efforts heightened public awareness of labor issues and increased public support for labor reform in the 1870s and 1880s.

In this film, turn-of-the-century factory workers keep track of the hours they worked by punching a time clock. Do you know anyone who punches a time clock?

In the 1870s and early 1880s, a group called the Knights of Labor was more successful with its efforts to reform labor laws. In 1886, the Knights of Labor included 700,000 laborers, shopkeepers, and farmers. The union discouraged strikes and instead promoted changing society.

But in 1886, a series of violent strikes waged by railroad workers hurt the union's reputation. In May, police were called in when fighting broke out between striking workers and strikebreakers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Haymarket, Illinois. Two union men were shot by police, and an explosion killed seven policemen. The outbreak became known as the Haymarket Riot.

The result of the Haymarket Riot was that the eight-hour-workday movement came to be seen as "radical." Therefore, popular support for organized labor decreased. As the Knights of Labor declined, the American Federation of Labor rose. The Federation focused on protecting the independence and established privileges of individual unions.

Little progress was made in establishing an eight-hour workday until 1933. During this year, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, an emergency measure taken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. The Act provided for the establishment of maximum hours, minimum wages, and the right to collective bargaining (allowing unions to represent their members in negotiations with an employer). The Recovery Act was soon replaced by the Wagner Act, which assured workers the right to form unions. It was not until the 1950s that most workers gained the eight-hour workday. Do you know anyone who belongs to a union?
 
Robbery On the Rails

October 6, 1866 - The First Known Train Robbery in the U.S.

On October 6, 1866, one of the first train robberies in America took place when the Reno brothers boarded an eastbound train in Indiana wearing masks and toting guns. After emptying one safe and tossing the other out the window, the robbers jumped off the train and made an easy getaway.

A wave of train robberies followed the Reno brothers' startling hold-up. Within two weeks, two trains were derailed and their safes were robbed. During another robbery in Indiana, an expressman aboard the train was thrown out the window before safes were emptied of $40,000.

Train robberies reached a peak in the 1890s, and robbers tended to stick to certain territories. The Reno brothers operated in southern Indiana. The Farringtons terrorized trains in Kentucky and Tennessee, and the infamous Jesse James gang wreaked havoc along the rails in the Midwestern states.

One witness to a train robbery in the late 1880s described the experience this way: "I decided to come home Thanksgiving to be with my family at Silver City. I boarded the train at Wilcox. There was a large shipment of gold on the train. Just out of Steins Pass we could see a large bon-fire. One of the train-men remarked, 'Wonder what the big fire is. I hope we don't run into any trouble.' ...Then, as today, curiosity got the best of some of us so we had to find out why the train came to an abrupt stop, and why the bon-fire was put on the track. We found ourselves looking into the barrel of guns."

Private detectives placed onboard trains, along with soldiers and other lawmen were brought in to protect the trains. By the turn of the 20th century, most of the famous train robbers, including Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the other members of the Wild Bunch gang, had been captured, killed or were no longer operating in the United States.
Free to Learn

November 20, 1866 - Howard University Was Founded

On November 20, 1866, 10 members of the First Congregational Society of Washington, D.C., gathered for a missionary meeting. That evening, they decided to establish a seminary for the training of African American preachers. By early 1867, the founders had broadened their mission to include a liberal arts college and university. They decided to name the university for Major General Oliver O. Howard, a Civil War hero and Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, a U.S. government agency established in 1865 to aid freed blacks. Howard was also one of the early founders of the institution in Washington.

The first students entered Howard University in May 1867. General Howard, who was Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau from 1865 until 1872, directed considerable resources to the university, including the original 3-acre campus, the Main Building, and the Old Medical School. Before the Freedmen's Bureau was dissolved in 1872, it had helped in the building of 45 hospitals and the education of approximately 150,000 former slaves.
 
Life on the Prairie

February 7, 1867 - Laura Ingalls Wilder Was Born

Have you ever dreamed of living in another time? Imagine what it would have been like to be one of the early settlers of the American frontier, moving by covered wagon through wide, windy prairies. You can really get a sense of what it was like by reading one of the books in the Little House series. These semi-autobiographical stories were written by Laura Ingalls Wilder who was born on this day, February 7, in 1867.

Imagine living in a pioneer log cabin in Wisconsin, on the prairie in Indian territory, or in a sod dugout by a creek in Minnesota (a shelter built into the ground of a hillside). Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in all these places. She also endured many hardships: blizzards that cut off food supplies, a plague of grasshoppers, the death of her one little brother. These were typical experiences in frontier life. But, as she shows in Little House on the Prairie, Pa and Ma always managed to create a happy, secure home for Laura and her three sisters. Do you know what happened to Laura Ingalls Wilder?

Wilder went on to become a teacher. She married and had one daughter who became a journalist. When Wilder was 65 years old, her daughter helped her write her first novel in the series, Little House in the Big Woods.
Try reading a book in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Then close your eyes and imagine yourself back in the late 1800s, standing in the tall, waving prairie grasses.
 
What's Alaska Worth?

March 30, 1867 - Purchase of Alaska

How much do you think a state is worth? On March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Do you think this was too much to pay for a piece of land that was mostly unexplored? At the time, critics thought Seward was crazy and called the deal "Seward's folly." Seward was laughed at for his willingness to spend so much on "Seward's icebox" and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden."

But Seward had wanted to buy Alaska for a long time. Alaska is so large that the addition of this land would increase the size of the U.S. by nearly 20 percent. Russia had established a presence in Alaska in the early 18th century and offered to sell it to the United States during President James Buchanan's administration. But the Civil War stalled negotiations. After the war, it was not easy for Seward to convince the Senate that Alaska would be an important addition to the United States. The Senate ratified the treaty that approved the purchase by just one vote. Was buying Alaska a good move?

Ultimately, buying Alaska proved to be a very good move. Major discoveries of gold were made there in the 1880s and 1890s. These discoveries brought attention and people to Alaska. Today, petroleum transported across the state through a pipeline is Alaska's richest mineral resource. Do you know when Alaska became a state?

In 1946, Alaskans approved statehood and adopted a constitution in 1955. On January 3, 1959, President Eisenhower announced Alaska's entrance into the Union as the 49th state. How much do you think Alaska, the nation's largest state, would be worth today?
 
An Office in the Sky?

June 8, 1867 - Frank Lloyd Wright Was Born

Some people do their most creative work late in life. Frank Lloyd Wright was one of America's most influential architects, and he designed some of his most famous buildings when he was over seventy years old. Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. He was trained to be an engineer but mostly taught himself how to design buildings. He believed houses should be comfortable for the occupants but should also blend in with their environment. He took this idea to its limit when he designed a house in Pennsylvania named Fallingwater, which is suspended above a waterfall. Wright designed other buildings with unique characteristics.

Wright designed the Guggenheim Museum of modern and contemporary art in New York City. This modern structure marked a bold departure from traditional museum design. Its exhibition space featured a spiraling six-story ramp, which encircled an open center space lit by a glass dome. When Wright died at ninety-two years of age, he had just finished the design for a mile-high office building (it was never built). How long do you think it would take an elevator to get to the top? Have you ever seen a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright?
Accusing a President

May 16, 1868 - Vote to Impeach Andrew Johnson

It's no small decision for Congress to impeach (accuse of a crime or misdemeanor) the president, but in 1868 that's exactly what happened. In February, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson. His trial, with the chief justice of the Supreme Court presiding, began on March 30 with the Senate serving as jury. Johnson was accused of having broken the law, but on May 16, 1868, the U.S. Senate failed to convict him by one vote. A second vote taken 10 days later had the same result: one vote short of the two-thirds majority required to convict. What did Johnson do that led to his impeachment and near arrest?

After becoming president following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Johnson wanted to complete Lincoln's plan to reunite the country swiftly. The Civil War (1861-1865) had just ended. His plan was to promote passage of an amendment outlawing slavery, then allow the Confederate states to once again send representatives to Congress and govern themselves. Johnson, however, lacked Lincoln's good judgment. While Congress was in recess, the newly powerful Southern states passed "Black Codes," limiting the rights of freed slaves. An angry Congress proposed a law that would repress those codes; Johnson vetoed it. Congress in return, on April 9, 1866, passed the first override in U.S. history, protecting the civil rights legislation. And on it went.

That same day, Congress passed a law that limited the power of the president. The Tenure of Office Act prohibited the president from removing any government official, including his own cabinet members, without the Senate's approval. Johnson maintained the law was unconstitutional and thus invalid. He fired Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a political enemy, in open defiance of the law.

The House of Representatives then decided to impeach the president, charging him with "high crimes and misdemeanors" as required by the Constitution. Johnson was charged with breaking the law, among other things. During his trial before the Senate (where impeachment hearings are held, according to the Constitution), the charges were shown to be so weak that seven Republicans refused to convict the Democratic president. The votes thus fell one short of the two-thirds necessary for conviction.

Johnson did not attend his trial. When he heard the results, the president broke into tears.
 
Remembering Our Soldiers With Flowers and Parades

May 30, 1868 - The First Official Memorial Day

Do you celebrate Memorial Day? In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued what was called General Order Number 11, designating May 30 as a memorial day. He declared it to be "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land." Where do you suppose that first Memorial Day took place?

The first national celebration of Memorial Day (originally Decoration Day) took place May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery. The national observance of Memorial Day still takes place there today, with the placing of a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the decoration of each grave with a small American flag. The holiday has changed a bit since it first began, which some argue was even earlier than Logan's dedication.

Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the end of the Civil War. After the war, a women's memorial association in Columbus, Mississippi, put flowers on the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers in 1866, an act of generosity that inspired the poem by Francis Miles Finch, "The Blue and the Grey," published in the Atlantic Monthly. In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended it to honor all those who died in American wars. People pay tribute not only with flowers but also with speeches and parades. Whom do you honor on Memorial Day?
 
The "Reconstruction Amendment"

July 28, 1868 - 14th Amendment to the Constitution Was Ratified

On July 28, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. The amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War. The amendment had been rejected by most Southern states but was ratified by the required three-fourths of the states. Known as the "Reconstruction Amendment," it forbids any state to deny any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Other groups tried to use the 14th Amendment to further their causes. Women attempted to use it to proclaim their right to vote, and African Americans tried to use it as well. On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" facilities were considered sufficient to satisfy the 14th Amendment. It wasn't until May 17, 1954, however, that the Court reversed the Plessy decision, bringing the era of government-sanctioned segregation to an end.

It was the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, which finally gave African Americans the right to vote. It states that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." In practice, however, it took almost 100 more years and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to remove barriers such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation that prevented African Americans and other people of color from freely exercising their right to vote. Note that the 15th amendment makes no mention of sex. It was not until the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 that women were explicitly given the vote.
 
Ziegfeld and His Follies

March 21, 1869 - Showman Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. Was Born

A charming French-born actress named Anna Held suggested the idea for the Ziegfeld Follies. Held inspired Ziegfeld to create a musical revue like the ones she had seen in Paris, featuring pretty chorus girls, chic costumes, and comedy. Why not? American girls were "the most beautiful girls in the world," she said. In New York, Ziegfeld produced the first of the spectacular Follies, the Follies of 1907, starring--who other than?--Anna Held. It was a hit! The popular Follies continued, updated each year until the Great Depression. Here's a hit from the Follies of 1913.

The Great Sandow, a 23-year old muscle man, performed with only moderate success in New York, until Ziegfeld became his manager. He whisked the young man off to the World's Columbian Exposition (a world's fair) in 1893 and created a sensation by inviting members of Chicago's high society backstage to touch Sandow's mighty muscles. Revenues soared. Ziegfeld's great triumph, the Follies, came soon after.

A charming French-born actress named Anna Held suggested the idea for the Ziegfeld Follies. Held inspired Ziegfeld to create a musical revue like the ones she had seen in Paris, featuring pretty chorus girls, chic costumes, and comedy. Why not? American girls were "the most beautiful girls in the world," she said. In New York, Ziegfeld produced the first of the spectacular Follies, the Follies of 1907, starring--who other than?--Anna Held. It was a hit! The popular Follies continued, updated each year until the Great Depression. Here's a hit from the Follies of 1913.

Anna Held became one of the first big "stars," of the era, thanks to Ziegfeld's great publicity. Ziegfeld went on to create other stars like Will Rogers and, in 1927, produced the musical Show Boat. Some of the traditions of Ziegfeld and the vaudeville era are still alive in theater today. Have you seen or been in a musical revue or a musical? Ask your family if they have heard of the Ziegfeld Follies. They might enjoy listening with you to this tune from The Follies of 1922.
 
Sleeping in the Great Outdoors

July 19, 1869 - John Muir and the Sierras

What's the first thing you see when you wake up? What would you see if you slept outside? Would you wake up when the sun rises? For John Muir, a naturalist who traveled the country and observed his surroundings, sleeping outside was one of life's great pleasures. He kept track of his experiences by recording them in a journal. Here's what he wrote on July 19, 1869, when he woke up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California:

"Watching the daybreak and sunrise. The pale rose and purple sky changing softly to daffodil yellow and white, sunbeams pouring through the passes between the peaks and over the Yosemite domes, making their edges burn; the silver firs in the middle ground catching the glow on their spiry tops, and our camp grove fills and thrills with the glorious light."

From the start, Muir was an early defender of the environment. In 1876 he supported the adoption of a federal forest conservation program. From 1892 to 1914 he was the Sierra Club's first president. The Sierra Club is an environmental organization. His articles and books describing Yosemite's natural wonders inspired public support for establishment of Yosemite National Park in 1890 and expansion of the park in 1905. Next time you visit a park, take a good look around. How do you think someone who was seeing it for the first time would feel? How would you describe it?
 
By The Boardwalk

June 26, 1870 - The Atlantic City Boardwalk

Pull on a wool flannel bathing suit or hop on a rolling chair, it's time to go to Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the 1800s.

Atlantic City grew from Dr. Jonathan Pitney's idea to make the New Jersey shore into a health resort. Development began in 1850. Atlantic City, with its beautiful beaches and luxurious hotels, soon became a popular summer resort and winter health spa.

What kind of suit would you wear to the beach in the late 1800s? Women beach goers at that time wore bathing dresses of wool flannel with stockings, canvas shoes, and large straw hats. Censors roamed the beach looking for bathers who showed too much flesh.

What could you do in Atlantic City after your day at the beach?

You could stroll down the famous boardwalk and shop, eat saltwater taffy, or sit in an elegant restaurant. Alexander Boardman, a railroad conductor, thought up the idea of constructing a wooden walkway from the beach into town as a means of keeping sand out of the hotels. On June 26, 1870, the first section of the Atlantic City boardwalk opened along the New Jersey beach. It was eight feet wide and one mile long. Soon the walkway was extended and stretched to five miles long. By 1884, if you didn't want to walk, you could travel along the boardwalk in a rolling chair. The rolling chair was the only vehicle allowed on the boardwalk.

Can you think of an event that happens each year in Atlantic City today?

The Miss America pageant has been held in Atlantic City since 1940. Have you ever watched it? Atlantic City hosted beauty contests for years before the Miss America pageant, like the contest for the 1926 Golden Mermaid trophy. Which of these bathing beauties do you think could win a contest today?
 
The Other San Francisco Treat!

January 17, 1871 - San Franciscan Andrew Smith Hallidie Patented the First Cable Car

Maybe he got the idea watching poor panting horses pull carriages full of people up San Francisco's steep hills. Whatever motivated him, Andrew Smith Hallidie patented his design for a "horseless streetcar" on January 17, 1871, and soon arranged financial backing to make a cable car system a reality.

It is called a cable car because the car is moved along by a loop of metal cable running continuously in a slot beneath the ground, powered by a steam-driven engine in a powerhouse. You can hear it moving if you are standing near a line. The cable car's first run started at the top of a 307-foot hill. A few nervous men climbed aboard the cable car, and with Hallidie at the controls, the car descended, arriving safely at the bottom.

With the success of the San Francisco line, other cities began putting in cable railway systems. But it is in San Francisco where they are most famous, where "little cable cars climb halfway to the stars," according to the famous song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Have you ridden a cable car?
 
A Song Full of Hope

June 17, 1871 - James Weldon Johnson Was Born

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

This is part of the song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Its lyrics were written by James Weldon Johnson to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Johnson was born on June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a poet, diplomat, songwriter, and anthologist (compiler) of African American culture. During his lifetime, Johnson faced many a new day and sang his song in many different ways.

Johnson started his career as principal of a black high school in Jacksonville. He began practicing law in 1898, when he was admitted to the Florida bar. In 1901, he moved to New York City with his brother, composer John Rosamond Johnson, who put "Lift Every Voice and Sing" to music. There, the two brothers wrote some 200 songs for Broadway productions. Then President Theodore Roosevelt appointed James W. Johnson United States consul to Venezuela in 1906. Some years later, Johnson took on another important leadership role.

In 1920, Johnson became the secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Through the NAACP, he was able to further the opportunities and careers of other African Americans. Throughout his life, Johnson wrote poetry, for which he is best known. He is also well known for his anthologies of African American poetry, which provided inspiration, encouragement, and recognition to the new generation of artists who would create the "Harlem Renaissance" of the 1920s and 1930s. Johnson did indeed "march on till victory [was] won!"
 
The Fires of 1871

October 8, 1871 - Fire in the Midwest

Sitting in front of a fireplace or around a campfire can be a lot of fun, but when a fire grows out of control, it becomes a frightening event. Today, with smoke alarms, fire hydrants and well-funded fire departments, most city fires can be stopped within hours. However, when conditions are right, a fire can burn for days, destroying everything in its path.

On Sunday, October 8, 1871, conditions in the Midwest were exactly right to create a devastating fire. The long dry summer had carried into October, and the winds were strong.

A deadly fire spread that night through the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. Vast tracts of forest burned for a week. When the wind increased and shifted direction, fire fighters were unable to control the flames any longer.

Many of the towns in the Midwest were built from the surrounding woods. Within hours, several cities and towns, including Peshtigo, Holland, Manistee and Port Huron burned to the ground. At least 1,200 people died as a result of the fire. Nearly half the fatalities occurred in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. That same night, the Great Chicago Fire erupted in nearby Illinois.

What are some precautions you have been taught that prevent fires?
 
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow

October 9, 1871 - The Great Chicago Fire

If you woke up and your house was on fire, what would you take with you before getting out? You might be surprised at some of the things you might grab in the middle of the night.

On October 8, 1871, a huge fire started near Chicago's downtown area and burned four square miles to the ground before it was extinguished. The blaze burned homes and shops and left 300 people dead and 500,000 people homeless. As the fire spread, people ran out of their homes, taking with them whatever they could grab. One woman carried a big frame that held her wedding veil, while another carried a pot of soup!

Can you imagine how a cow could set such a huge fire? No one is sure how the Chicago blaze began, but one eyewitness saw the first flames leaping out of Mr. And Mrs. O'Leary's barn. Rumor, and now legend, has it that their cow kicked over an oil lamp, setting straw on fire. Mrs. O'Leary's cow may well be the most infamous cow in American history!

Firefighters brought the fire under control the next day, on October 9, 1871, but only with the help of a rainstorm. It had been unusually warm and dry that year, and the city's wood buildings burned like matches until finally the rain came down.

One Chicago resident described jumping out of bed as the fire approached. "Everybody in the house was trying to save as much as possible. I tied my clothes in a sheet. With my clothes under my arm and my pack on my back, I left the house with the rest of the family. Everybody was running north. People were carrying all kinds of crazy things . . . cats, dogs and goats. In the great excitement people saved worthless things and left behind good things." It's easy to panic and not think clearly in a fire. Most possessions can be replaced, so it is very important to leave a burning building as quickly as possible.
 
Hug a Tree

April 10, 1872 - First Arbor Day

Go out and plant a tree today--a pine, an elm, an oak, a mimosa--it doesn't matter what kind.

On April 10, 1872, Nebraskans celebrated the first Arbor Day by planting more than a million trees. Julius Sterling Morton, a newspaper editor and former governor, saw his dream fulfilled after years of asking Congress to designate a day to encourage the planting of trees. In 1885, the Nebraskans moved the date to April 22 in honor of Morton's birthday. Today people celebrate Arbor Day worldwide on the last Friday in April. Do you celebrate Arbor Day? Where did you first hear of this holiday?

You may have heard of Arbor Day at school. Observed by all the states by 1907, schoolchildren helped out the most to keep the day alive and growing. Arbor Day programs urged children to plant a tree as a patriotic act, as a good investment for the future, and as a way to beautify the community. Conservationists (people who work to protect nature) today would encourage you to plant a willow, a redwood, a birch, or a palm to help in the battle against deforestation (the clearing of trees from a location). Can you imagine a world without trees? Celebrate Arbor Day!
 
The Mask that Grins and Lies

June 27, 1872 - Paul Laurence Dunbar Was Born

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes
Paul Laurence Dunbar

Do you like writing stories or poetry? If you enjoy writing at all, you and Paul Laurence Dunbar have something in common. Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872, in Dayton, Ohio, and was the child of former slaves. He grew up to be an internationally acclaimed poet, short story writer, novelist, dramatist, and lyricist. By the turn of the century, Dunbar was the most famous black writer in America.

When Dunbar was young, his mother told him stories of the South. Then, later on in life, Dunbar wrote his own stories about African Americans in the South. One of his best friends was his classmate Orville Wright. (Orville and his brother Wilbur invented the airplane.) The two friends published a newspaper called The Dayton Tattler. Unfortunately, their money ran out after just three issues, but Dunbar did not give up writing. In 1893, while working as an elevator operator, Dunbar published his first book of poetry, Oak and Ivy.

After two more of Dunbar's books were published, his poetry became very popular. Dunbar read his poems to audiences in the United States and in England. When he returned from England, Dunbar took a job as an assistant librarian at the Library of Congress.

Have you ever tried to write a song? In 1902, Booker T. Washington commissioned Dunbar to write the school song for the Tuskegee Institute. However, Washington was not pleased with Dunbar's "Tuskegee Song." Dunbar wrote back to Washington this letter to defend his work.

Dunbar published 22 books and many poems before his death in 1906. He was just 33 years old when he died. What would you like to write a story or poem about?
 
A Woman's Right to Vote

April 4, 1873 - Carrie Burnham Argued for the Right to Vote

Can you imagine not being allowed to vote once you reach eighteen years of age? Because she was a woman in the 19th century, teacher and physician Carrie S. Burnham (later Kilgore) was denied that right. Burnham took her argument to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on April 4, 1873, asking this simple question: "Have women citizens the right of suffrage (to vote) under the Constitution of the United States and of this particular State of Pennsylvania?" She told the court that she believed a woman should have that right and presented a thoughtful case to support her argument. By this time, Burnham's protest had been going on for several years.

In October 1871, Carrie Burnham went to the polls in her home city of Philadelphia to vote. When officials rejected her ballot, Burnham took her case to the Court of Common Pleas and petitioned for her right to vote on the grounds that she met the legal definition of a "freeman" and a citizen of the United States. With no success there, she went before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. What was its verdict?

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania disagreed with Carrie Burnham, and she was denied the right to vote. But she was not the only woman fighting for her right. The woman suffrage movement started in the mid-19th century and progressed with leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The movement continued until 1920, when women of the U.S. finally won the right to vote after World War I. Do you know the names of other women who fought for this cause? As for Carrie Burnham, she died before gaining the right to vote, but not before becoming an attorney and winning admission to the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.
 
A Vogue Way of Life

March 26, 1874 - Conde Nast Was Born

What do magazines like Vogue, House and Garden, and Vanity Fair say about our culture? Conde Nast, born in New York City on March 26, 1874, owned all these popular magazines. He acquired them between 1909 and 1914.

While other publishers simply focused on increasing the number of magazines in circulation, Nast targeted groups of readers by income level or common interest. Think of all the magazines today based on a common interest, focusing on everything from politics to skateboarding. Nast started that whole trend.

Nast called his magazines "class publications." They explored trends in fashion, the arts, politics, and entertainment. How influential do you think magazines are in the way people think, act, and look? Even back in 1900, readers looked to Vogue for fashion possibilities, though few could afford to buy the clothes on display, and that is still true today. Next time you read a magazine, think about what it says about our world, what group the magazine is trying to reach, and if it influences you. Try this out on your family, too.
 
Derby Day!

May 17, 1875 - The First Kentucky Derby

On May 17, 1875, the horse, Aristides, and his rider, Oliver Lewis, crossed the finish line ahead of the rest of the field at the first ever Kentucky Derby. The horse's owner, H.P. McGrath, and a roaring crowd in the stands looked on. What would you have seen in Louisville that first race day?

You might have seen well-groomed Thoroughbreds--a cross between Arabian stallions and European mares--along with 15 fine jockeys, 13 of whom, including Oliver Lewis, were African American. You also would have seen cheering crowds sitting anxiously in the bleachers around the track built in 1874 by Meriweather Lewis Clark.
 
Armchair Explorer

October 28, 1875 - National Geographic President Gilbert H. Grosvenor Was Born

When you look at the exotic photographs in a National Geographic magazine, do they make you wonder about the world?

The magazine was a plain-covered journal when it first started. The beautiful photographs became part of the journal after Gilbert H. Grosvenor (pronounced "GROVE-nor") became editor-in-chief for the publication in 1904. In 1920, Grosvenor took on a second role as president of the National Geographic Society, which publishes the magazine. Born in Turkey on October 28, 1875, Grosvenor is credited with transforming National Geographic into a world-renowned monthly magazine.

With the money earned from the magazine, the society was able to explore previously unknown worlds, then introduce them to millions of people. Where did the society go on its explorations?

Under Grosvenor's guidance, scientific expeditions and research projects traveled as far as the North Pole with Commodore Robert Peary in 1909, and as deep as the ocean when William Beebe made his record-setting undersea descent in 1934.
Today, the National Geographic Society is the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organization of its kind. Grosvenor cared a great deal about conservation and the protection of wildlife, and both causes are the subject of many of the current programs and educational materials offered by the society.

Next time you pick up a National Geographic, see if you can find a world that you never knew existed. Happy exploring!
 
Boss Tweed Escaped!

December 4, 1875 - Boss Tweed Escaped From Prison

On December 4, 1875, William Marcy Tweed, better known as Boss Tweed, escaped from prison and fled to Europe. How he landed in prison in the first place is a story of American politics and corruption.

Tweed started out as a bookkeeper and volunteer fireman in New York City. He was elected alderman (a member of a city's legislative body) in 1851, and later he was also elected to a term in Congress. By 1870, he was so powerful and had so many of his friends (known as his "Tweed Ring" cronies) in political positions that he was able to pass a new city charter allowing him and his friends to control the city treasury. Between 1865 and 1871, Tweed and his associates stole between $30 million and $200 million from the city.

The "Tweed Ring" managed to steal the money by faking leases, padding bills with false changes and paying for unnecessary repairs and overpriced goods and services bought from suppliers controlled by the ring. A growing movement was determined to expose and overthrow Tweed, led by George Jones, the publisher of The New York Times, and reform lawyer Samuel J. Tilden. Cartoonist Thomas Nast also helped spark public outrage against Tweed by creating wicked caricatures of him in Harper's Weekly magazine.

Tweed unsuccessfully attempted to bribe both Nast and Jones to leave him alone, but on November 19, 1873, Tweed was tried and convicted on charges of forgery and larceny. He was released in January 1875, but was immediately rearrested. The state sued him for $6 million, and he was held in a debtor's jail until he could come up with half that amount for bail. In the debtor's prison, he was allowed daily trips, accompanied by the jailer, to see his family. On one of these trips, in December 1875, he escaped and fled to Spain. He was a fugitive there for a year, working as a common seaman on a Spanish ship until he was recognized by his likeness to a Nast cartoon and captured. He died in a debtor's prison on April 12, 1878.
 
The Bell is Ringing!

March 10, 1876 - The First Telephone Call

What were the first words ever spoken on the telephone? They were spoken by Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, when he made the first call on March 10, 1876, to his assistant, Thomas Watson: "Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you." What would you have said?

Born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Bell became an expert in sound and public speaking. His understanding of sound helped him to teach the deaf and then invent the telephone.

Bell was a man of vision. After the telephone's success, he wrote to his father about a future when "friends converse with each other without leaving home." How often do you talk with your friends on the phone? Can you imagine how life would be different without it?

Inspired by his scientific curiosity, Bell went on to create other new inventions, including the photophone in 1880. This first wireless telephone transmitted sound on a beam of light instead of electrical wires. It is the forefather of the cordless phone and 80% of today's telephone systems that use fiber optics.

Bell's first telephone call was so famous, he repeated the phrase in 1915 in the formal opening of the completed transcontinental telephone lines connecting America's East and West coasts. Picking up the phone in New York, Mr. Bell said, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you." But this time Watson replied that it would take him a week; he was on the other end of the line in San Francisco.
 
Custer's Last Stand

June 25, 1876 - Custer's Last Stand

What do you know about the Battle of Little Big Horn? You might know the story better as Custer's Last Stand.

On the morning of June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and the 7th Cavalry charged into battle against Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians. Custer's orders were to wait for reinforcements at the mouth of the Little Big Horn River before attacking the Indians, but Chief Sitting Bull had been spotted nearby, and Custer was impatient to attack.

A treaty had given the Sioux exclusive rights to the Black Hills, but when gold was later discovered in the area, white miners flocked to the territory. Despite the treaty, the U.S. government ordered the Indians away from the invading settlers and back to their reservations.

Custer's job was to force the Indians back to their reservations. Some of the Indians refused to leave their sacred land, and other hunters were camped in remote places and never learned of the order. The U.S. Army prepared for battle anyway.

Custer planned to attack the Indian camp from three sides, but Chief Sitting Bull was ready for them. The first two groups, led by Captain Benteen and Major Reno, were immediately forced to retreat to one side of the river, where they continued to fight as best they could. Custer was not as lucky.

Custer's troops charged the Indians from the north. Quickly encircled by their enemy, Custer and 265 of his soldiers were killed in less than an hour. The Indians retreated two days later when the troops Custer had been ordered to wait for arrived.

The Battle of Little Big Horn was a short-lived victory for the Native Americans. Federal troops soon poured into the Black Hills. While many Native Americans surrendered, Sitting Bull escaped to Canada.
 
Home of Cliff Dwellers and Gold Miners

August 1, 1876 - Colorado Became a State

Welcome to the state of Colorado. It's a land with a history of cliff dwellers, gold miners, railroad travelers, and homesteaders. It's a place associated with outdoor adventure, ski resorts, and many successful businesses. Entering the Union on August 1, 1876, the year the U.S. celebrated its 100th birthday, the 38th state is known as the Centennial State. Do you know anyone who lives in Colorado? Do you know who lived there 900 years ago?

Among the early inhabitants were Native Americans, the Anasazi (the "ancient ones," pronounced a-ne-'sa-ze) cliff dwellers. They lived high on the mountainous stone plateaus of Mesa Verde until the late 1200s. Most people believe the Anasazi left because of drought and other extreme conditions, some of which are still mysteries. You can visit the remains of these cliff dwellings today. The Spanish and the French explored the area before the U.S. combined property into the Colorado Territory in 1861. By that time the population of settlers was already growing rapidly. Why?

Gold! The 1858 discovery of gold caused a population boom, just like it did in California 10 years earlier. The miners found other profitable minerals as well and continued to mine for many years. As late as the 1940s, mountain streams in Ouray County ran yellow because of the residue (tailings) from the gold mills. You can see the golden river in this photo. Settlers also discovered Colorado's exquisite natural beauty.

Railroads brought ever more travelers and settlers to Colorado, where many stayed because of the richness of the state's agricultural production and its physical beauty. They rode trains like this one through the Rocky Mountains. Have you visited Colorado? What else do you know about the Centennial State?
 
The Brooding Midwest?

September 13, 1876 - Writer Sherwood Anderson Was Born

Have you ever written a story about your hometown? Maybe you think it's too "boring" to write about. If so, take a look at American writer Sherwood Anderson. Born on September 13, 1876, in Camden, Ohio, he is best known for his short stories that reflect his small-town, Midwestern past. Described as "brooding Midwest tales," they reveal "their author's sympathetic insight into the thwarted lives of ordinary people." This third child of a harness maker and sometime house painter had a fondness for storytelling.

As a young man, Anderson was intent on establishing his financial independence. He married, had three children and worked, with growing dissatisfaction, in the corporate world until 1912, when he suffered a brief nervous breakdown. He began to write fiction that year while working as a copywriter at a Chicago advertising agency. In Chicago, he met other thriving writers such as Carl Sandburg and Theodore Dreiser, who formed a sort of Chicago literary renaissance. Many of them, like Anderson, had grown up in small Midwestern towns.

Sherwood Anderson had an important influence upon American writing between World War I and World War II. He is credited with capturing the real sound of everyday speech in his writing and experimenting with new forms and styles, breaking down tired, old formulas. He influenced a whole generation of writers, most notably Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. Many experienced writers have stressed that a young writer should write about what he or she knows best. While in New Orleans in 1924, Anderson encouraged Faulkner to write about his home county in Mississippi. Anderson's 1919 collection of short stories, Winesburg, Ohio, is widely considered his best work. Try writing a story about your hometown; you may be surprised.
 
The Real Uncle Sam

June 18, 1877 - Illustrator James Montgomery Flagg Was Born

Chances are, you've seen this poster before. Its creator was illustrator James Montgomery Flagg, who was born on June 18, 1877, in Pelham Manor, New York. He claimed it was at one time the most famous poster in the world. Certainly this image of a pointing Uncle Sam has become an American icon. Though he is best known for his commercial art, Flagg created 46 works in support of the war effort during World War I. This image first appeared on the cover of a magazine called Leslie's Weekly with the title, "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?"

More than 4 million copies of the poster were printed between 1917 and 1918. The image was also used extensively in World War II. You may have seen it with the caption, "I Want You for U.S. Army," used for recruiting soldiers. Did you know there really was an Uncle Sam? In 1961, Congress recognized meat packer Samuel Wilson (1766-1854), who supplied meat to the Army during the War of 1812, as Uncle Sam's namesake. People said Wilson was fair, reliable, honest, and devoted to his country.
 
The Wizard of Menlo Park

August 12, 1877 - Thomas Edison and the First Phonograph

The next time you listen to a favorite album, you can thank Thomas Edison for discovering the secret to recording sound. Before there were CD players and tape decks, there was the phonograph. August 12, 1877 is the date popularly given for Thomas Edison's completion of the model for the first phonograph.

Edison was trying to improve the telegraph transmitter when he noticed that the movement of the paper tape through the machine produced a noise resembling spoken words when played at a high speed. Experimenting with a stylus (hard-pointed instrument like a large needle) on a tinfoil cylinder, Edison spoke into the machine. Do you know the first words ever recorded?

To Edison's surprise, the cylinder recorded his message, "Mary had a little lamb." People had a hard time believing his discovery at first, but soon doubt turned into awe as Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," after the name of the city in New Jersey where he did his work. Sound recording was rapidly becoming an American industry.

As a young boy growing up in the late 19th century, Harry Reece remembered the invention of the phonograph as one in a series of technological marvels: "Electric lights were something to marvel at . . . the old Edison phonograph with its wax cylinder records and earphones was positively ghostly . . ." Here you can listen to one of the early musical recordings.
 
Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain

October 5, 1877 - Chief Joseph Surrenders

Chief Joseph loved his homeland, his people, and peace, but he was tired of running from the U.S. Army. "Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph spoke these words during his surrender in the Bear Paw Mountains of Montana. After a harrowing journey of more than 1,000 miles across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, pursued by the federal army, he and his followers surrendered to the troops. They were 40 miles from the Canadian border and freedom.

Believing in peace, Chief Joseph had been trying to secure his homeland for his tribe, the Nez Percé, without fighting. To Chief Joseph and his tribe, their homeland was sacred, like a cathedral. At first, the government allowed them to stay in their home regions, then some years later, forced them out. As they began their journey from their ancestral home in the Wallowa Valley of Oregon to a reservation in Idaho, the chief learned that three young Nez Percé men, enraged at their loss, had committed a brutal act.

The three young Indians had massacred a band of white settlers. Chief Joseph feared retaliation by the government and tried to take his people to safety. After their capture, the Nez Percé were moved to Kansas, but the fearless leader never gave up. He went to Washington D.C. to meet with the president. Finally, in 1885, Chief Joseph and his followers were allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest, close to their old home, thanks to the persistence and courage of Chief Joseph. His Indian name reflected his strength: Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Search Fun Easy English
 
 
 
 
About    Contact    Copyright    Resources    Site Map