Bits of US history you never heard of

[egao_gakari]

I suppose it's impossible to learn every nitty-gritty detail of US dealings with other nations, particularly random skirmishes that wound up having no impact stateside. But I was totally thrown just now when I started watching this new Korean show on Netflix, "Mr. Sunshine." The first episode depicts a battle between the US navy and Korean forces at an island called Ganghwa in 1871. From the way it's scripted, it's clear that Korean audiences are aware of this incident, so details like "how the heck did this even happen?!" were totally left out or so quickly glossed over that I missed them.

I looked it up on Wikipedia.  Learn something new every day, I guess? Thanks, Netflix!

Anybody have other examples of stuff they were surprised they'd never heard of before? I'm looking to learn more now ? 

[Rachel]

I’m blank right now but I’ve definitely had those experiences before. 

[klmama]

I only learned about this recently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Nicaragua   

[gaillardia]

I didn't know about the Acadian Expulsion. How heartbreaking. There was a song, "Acadian Driftwood," about the Expulsion, written and played by The Band in the 1970s. I never knew about that part of Canadian/American history.  

[Lecka]

I just watched a video about The American Plan that my sister linked on Facebook.  Who knew?  

About this book: https://www.amazon.com/Trials-Nina-McCall-Surveillance-Decades-Long-ebook/dp/B074YMCZLX

The video was about locking up women who were suspected of having syphilis and it became a precedent (if I understood correctly) for internment camps in WW II.  

 

[HomeAgain]

The Buck vs. Bell trial, in which the Supreme Court ruled that forced sterilization of the poor, mentally disabled, and general "unfit" (read: promiscuous) women did not violate the Due Process clause, nor did it fall into the protection of equal rights because women don't have equal rights in the U.S. even still. The outcome was to legitimize eugenic sterilization and create laws in various states to increase the use of it.  And that it was never overturned, but that the last state to remove or change their law was Virginia in 1988, making it voluntary.
It's no surprise that all this happened before WWII, and that other countries were watching and taking notes of how we were handling our "problems".  Our history books led to us to believe Germany happened in a vacuum.
 

[kbutton]

I am trying to remedy some of what I missed with the Stuff You Missed in History Podcast. You might like it, OP. 

I hope people keep adding to this thread--it's very interesting! 

[Miss Tick]

For filling in those gaps I also like In Our Time: History from the BBC. You and @HomeAgain might both be interested in the podcast More Perfect which focuses on the Supreme Court.

I've had a number of those moments, but of course nothing comes to mind when I need it!

[nixpix5]

17 hours ago, egao_gakari said:

I suppose it's impossible to learn every nitty-gritty detail of US dealings with other nations, particularly random skirmishes that wound up having no impact stateside. But I was totally thrown just now when I started watching this new Korean show on Netflix, "Mr. Sunshine." The first episode depicts a battle between the US navy and Korean forces at an island called Ganghwa in 1871. From the way it's scripted, it's clear that Korean audiences are aware of this incident, so details like "how the heck did this even happen?!" were totally left out or so quickly glossed over that I missed them.

I looked it up on Wikipedia.  Learn something new every day, I guess? Thanks, Netflix!

Anybody have other examples of stuff they were surprised they'd never heard of before? I'm looking to learn more now ? 

I had the exact same experience watching Mr. Sunshine. I was like..."huh?" And had to also look it up. It makes me want to read every bit of history about the US in every country's curriculum. 

[HomeAgain]

Oh, here's one for the west coast!  The California state flag was designed by William Todd, Mary Todd Lincoln's nephew.  It gives two nods to previous history - The California Lone Star separation and the Bear Flag revolt.  In the 1830s the main part of California wanted to separate from Mexico.  Those who rebelled against the Mexican government used a white flag with a red star.  The Bear Flag revolt happened about 10 years later, where American immigrants illegally squatted on Mexican land around San Francisco, tried to claim it for their own and call it the California Republic, and were squashed as well.
 

[egao_gakari]

16 hours ago, gaillardia said:

I didn't know about the Acadian Expulsion. How heartbreaking. There was a song, "Acadian Driftwood," about the Expulsion, written and played by The Band in the 1970s. I never knew about that part of Canadian/American history.  

Nope, never heard of this! Gosh that's sad.

[egao_gakari]

17 hours ago, klmama said:

I only learned about this recently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Nicaragua   

I'd never heard of that one either!

[egao_gakari]

One that I learned about in 8th grade but that no one I've mentioned it to has ever heard of is US intervention in the Philippines in the early 1900s. Rebellion against US forces there was so bad that the commander ordered that everyone over 10 years old be killed. Thankfully that order was not fully carried out, and I learned from my history teacher that there was actually a massive outcry against it when word of that order made it back stateside. Knowing our history of being... shall we say... not terribly concerned with the fates of native peoples, I was honestly a little surprised that there even was such an outcry. Go us, I guess?

[Jenny in Florida]

3 hours ago, kbutton said:

I am trying to remedy some of what I missed with the Stuff You Missed in History Podcast. Y

 

Ah! You beat me to it.

2 hours ago, SusanC said:

For filling in those gaps I also like In Our Time: History from the BBC.

 

And another of my favorites.

[MistyMountain]

10 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

The Buck vs. Bell trial, in which the Supreme Court ruled that forced sterilization of the poor, mentally disabled, and general "unfit" (read: promiscuous) women did not violate the Due Process clause, nor did it fall into the protection of equal rights because women don't have equal rights in the U.S. even still. The outcome was to legitimize eugenic sterilization and create laws in various states to increase the use of it.  And that it was never overturned, but that the last state to remove or change their law was Virginia in 1988, making it voluntary.
It's no surprise that all this happened before WWII, and that other countries were watching and taking notes of how we were handling our "problems".  Our history books led to us to believe Germany happened in a vacuum.
 

 

I remembering being surprised to learn that in college.

[Andromeda]

Did you know there is an Ancient Egyptian obelisk in New York's Central Park? Do you know how it got there? As an aside, which city in the entire world has the most Ancient Egyptian obelisks? (It's not in Egypt).

It is an amazing story, and the captain who made it happen (Henry Gorringe) wrote a book called Egyptian Obelisks. He had to come up with seriously ingenious ideas to float it out of Egypt, and when he finally made it to New York, he had to deal with tons of politics because the various people in control of roads and rail roads would not let him transport it across the city. When it was finally erected, the Masons took it as their own symbol and came en masse to the ceremony. There is also a box buried within the pedestal, and no living person knows what is inside.

Here is a picture from Gorringe's book (hopefully this works): https://books.google.com/books?id=cRgjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA54&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[gaillardia]

There are some history videos I came across recently full of stories I had never heard and details that explain how some of the places got their names.

 I will see if I can find it and post it later. Much later.

[Vernal2]

I didn’t know about Japanese American internment camps during WWII until I was in my 30’s. I read a book that had a small reference to it. I had no idea. 

[Bluegoat]

Not a history thing, but your post reminded me -  I've noticed something similar with some shows on tv from countries I'm less familiar with.  Since Netflix often has tv made in other countries that is available, I've watched more of that sort of thing, and I do see myself missing what seems to be assumed knowledge for the audience.  Sometimes historical, or cultural references, once or twice technological things, but also sometimes I think I am missing story-telling/film tropes or conventions.  

I watched a German series recently, and I commented to my dh that something about the show really did feel very German, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  He being a joker suggested that it was because everyone was speaking German, but it wasn't that, it was something about the way the story was presented I think.

 

[Tanaqui]

Not many people are aware that George Washington, "Town Destroyer", perpetrated acts of genocide which would nowadays be classified as war crimes. I didn't realize that until fairly recently, in fact.

Additionally, few people fully realize that most of our presidents before Lincoln owned slaves.

When I was a child and first started learning about conlanging, lo these many years ago, I stumbled across this page on US interventions in Latin America. It's not up to date anymore, but it's sure long anyway.

[Guest]

I did not know, until I was 39 and taking classes at college, about the internment of Japenese Americans following Pearl Harbor. Had NO IDEA this had happened here and was totally shocked to learn it. I don’t know if my schools never mentioned this, or I was out in left field when this was mentioned, or it just never reached the inside of my brain that it happened here, on American soil, to American citizens of Japenese descent. But it was news to me. 

[Guest]

On 7/13/2018 at 10:16 PM, Vernal2 said:

I didn’t know about Japanese American internment camps during WWII until I was in my 30’s. I read a book that had a small reference to it. I had no idea. 

YES! Exactly! I did not read replies here before posting, but I see now that you said this, too. 

[ThisIsTheDay]

On 7/13/2018 at 1:13 PM, HomeAgain said:

Oh, here's one for the west coast!  The California state flag was designed by William Todd, Mary Todd Lincoln's nephew.  It gives two nods to previous history - The California Lone Star separation and the Bear Flag revolt.  In the 1830s the main part of California wanted to separate from Mexico.  Those who rebelled against the Mexican government used a white flag with a red star.  The Bear Flag revolt happened about 10 years later, where American immigrants illegally squatted on Mexican land around San Francisco, tried to claim it for their own and call it the California Republic, and were squashed as well.
 

 

Growing up in California, I had several years of state history in elementary school. But I've never heard this!

On 7/13/2018 at 10:16 PM, Vernal2 said:

I didn’t know about Japanese American internment camps during WWII until I was in my 30’s. I read a book that had a small reference to it. I had no idea. 

 

This was one that I did learn much about growing up in California. Even in the early 70s, the area I lived in had a very high Asian populaton, and I have vague recollections of a student or two having a grandparent that shared with our class.

 

I didn't know until recently that we had SUBMARINES in the Civil War. This still fascinates me. When looking for something to visit in eastern VA, I stumbled upon the Maritime Museum, and as a result, I read up on it with one of my highschoolers. It was one of the best museums we've ever visited too--check out the reviews on Trip Advisor or Google! I recommend it to others whenever possible. And HEY, admission this summer is just $1 per person. Even the regular price of $14 is a great deal.

[Jenny in Florida]

On 7/13/2018 at 10:16 PM, Vernal2 said:

I didn’t know about Japanese American internment camps during WWII until I was in my 30’s. I read a book that had a small reference to it. I had no idea. 

 

3 hours ago, Quill said:

I did not know, until I was 39 and taking classes at college, about the internment of Japenese Americans following Pearl Harbor. Had NO IDEA this had happened here and was totally shocked to learn it. I don’t know if my schools never mentioned this, or I was out in left field when this was mentioned, or it just never reached the inside of my brain that it happened here, on American soil, to American citizens of Japenese descent. But it was news to me. 

 

I don't know whether it was because I grew up in California, but I do remember learning about the Japanese internment in school in the 1970s. There was also a much-publicized made-for-TV movie based on Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's book Farewell to Manzanar that aired in the mid-1970s. 

I've been listening to a series of podcasts from American Public Media about Order 9066, which was the executive order that authorized the internment. It's fascinating and filled with voices of people who were interned. 

https://www.apmreports.org/order-9066

For another perspective, this is a Broadway musical based on the experiences of George Takei (of Star Trek fame):

http://allegiancemusical.com/

I believe the show is currently touring, and there have been showings of the musical at movie theatres over the last couple of years. 

 

[thessa516]

On 7/13/2018 at 11:59 AM, SusanC said:

For filling in those gaps I also like In Our Time: History from the BBC. You and @HomeAgain might both be interested in the podcast More Perfect which focuses on the Supreme Court.

 

On 7/13/2018 at 11:32 AM, kbutton said:

I am trying to remedy some of what I missed with the Stuff You Missed in History Podcast. You might like it, OP. 

 

I'll add the show Drunk History on Comedy Central. The premise is that the narrator and host get drunk together and re-tell a story from American history. It is then re-enacted and lip-synced by actors. You'll be watching and suddenly realize that George Washington is being played by John Lithgow or that Hitler is Weird Al Yankovic. All the stories are true, even if the narration is a bit on the inebriated side. It's hilarious and sticks in my mind. I sure would have paid better attention in history class if Jean Lafitte had been portrayed by Jason Momoa.

[Junie]

2 hours ago, ThisIsTheDay said:

 

Growing up in California, I had several years of state history in elementary school. But I've never heard this!

 

This was one that I did learn much about growing up in California. Even in the early 70s, the area I lived in had a very high Asian populaton, and I have vague recollections of a student or two having a grandparent that shared with our class.

 

I didn't know until recently that we had SUBMARINES in the Civil War. This still fascinates me. When looking for something to visit in eastern VA, I stumbled upon the Maritime Museum, and as a result, I read up on it with one of my highschoolers. It was one of the best museums we've ever visited too--check out the reviews on Trip Advisor or Google! I recommend it to others whenever possible. And HEY, admission this summer is just $1 per person. Even the regular price of $14 is a great deal.

Thank you for posting this!  We have been wanting to go here, but it is normally so expensive.  It would be almost $100 for my family.  With their special deal this summer we would be able to go for $8.  Quite a difference!

John Lorimer Worden, the captain of the Monitor, was a cousin to one of my great-great-great-great-great grandmothers!

[Lady Florida.]

I'm listening to a biography of George Washington and learning a few things about him.

-Much of his wealth came to him because other people died. He was devastated over these deaths of loved ones but if certain family members had lived he would not have owned Mount Vernon.

-He wasn't really a very good strategic military man. He had a quality that made his troops look up to him, believe in him, and follow him, but he made some pretty big blunders during the American Revolution. It was a mixed series of events that put him as the eventual leader of that war. 

-He was quite the social climber.

-His mother was a bitter, selfish woman with whom he didn't get along. She never acknowledged any of his successes.

ETA: The book is Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow (author of the Alexander Hamilton bio that inspired the musical).

[TravelingChris]

American History in school just neglected a  lot of history.  So, for one, I didn't realize that there was much more to the Western Expansion than Pony Express, Wagon Trains, and Indians being forced onto reservations.  So while I knew there were battles between white settlers and Indians, I didn't know that there were also battles between differing groups of settlers too.  Like a prolonged battle between ranchers and farmers.  And other ones between miners and everyone else.  Also, that the Westerns weren't really all that exaggerating with all the deaths.  There was a lot of bad behavior out there. 

[Tanaqui]

Quote

I am kinda surprised that there are many people who didn't learn about the Japanese internment camps in school.  

 

I would be surprised, but you wanna hear something scary?

My mother likes to ask people random trivia questions, possibly to show off her knowledge. (I once asked her why she kept calling me in the middle of the day for that purpose and she confessed that she was trying to prove to her coworkers that I know everything. LOL! She cheats, though, by only asking the sort of things I know. For example, "which animal saved the city of Rome" would be a tricky question for somebody who didn't study Latin for several years and isn't additionally scared of geese, but she knows darn well that I did and am, and anyway I think she's the one who told me that in the first place.)

She's had a number of illnesses over the past few years, and has spent a lot of time at the doctor because of it, and while the doctors and nurses try to be accommodating they clearly aren't expecting to be on a quiz show as they take her blood pressure. So a few months ago, when one was especially flustered, she asked an easy question: Who won WWII? And the nurse didn't know. She's asked several people since then, and you don't even want to know how many couldn't answer it.

[Tanaqui]

Quote

Like a prolonged battle between ranchers and farmers.

 

Every time I read about the ongoing war between ranchers and farmers anywhere in the world I turn to my kids and remind them that this is literally the oldest story in the book - in this case, the book is the Bible and I'm referring to Cain and Abel.

[TechWife]

I knew about the Japanese internment camps in high school. However, I didn’t learn about Jim Crow laws until I was in my thirties & I grew up in Georgia. 

[Lady Florida.]

I think many of us over a certain age weren't taught that the founding fathers were complicated, flawed people. In the 1960s and early 70s when I was in school they were lionized. Many of us didn't learn until we were adults that while some of them were against slavery or at least had a nagging conscience telling them it wasn't right, they also weren't ready to speak out against it or even willing to free their own slaves. 

We weren't taught about Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding's fondness for brothels and whorehouses. Or that Ben Franklin was a dirty old man.

While I was never specifically taught that all of the founding fathers were traditional Christians it was definitely implied. There was never any mention of deism, or that any of them questioned their beliefs, or that many of them were students of The Enlightenment. Thomas Paine is the only one we were taught as having openly questioned (in The Age of Reason, which was actually quite mild in it's questions), and he was ostracized by society for it. 

I don't know when the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings relationship became common knowledge but having attended school in NJ up to eight grade and high school in Florida, that was never mentioned in any of my history classes. I had one American History class in tenth grade that was team taught. One teacher gave us the dates and places and boring stuff while the other taught us the cool stuff that wasn't in the history books (I think they planned it that way with the good cop-bad cop style). Even in that class we weren't told about Hemings.

You're never too old to learn (general you) and while some new knowledge might be disappointing I don't think it should be withheld or hidden. I would rather know that certain leaders were human than be given the impression they were super human. I know people (mostly older like FIL or one of my aunts) who don't like hearing this stuff and think it's "rewriting history". They can't be convinced that it isn't rewriting history but bringing out new information or correcting misinformation. 

[chiguirre]

There was a coup plot against FDR, the Wall Street Putsch. Seriously.

https://www.npr.org/2012/02/12/145472726/when-the-bankers-plotted-to-overthrow-fdr

It's terrifying that we came that close to joining Germany and Italy in totalitarianism. We were balancing on the knife blade of history.

[kbutton]

I didn't learn until college just how wild the Roaring Twenties were. I think it might have been alluded to, but mostly it was about wealth and prosperity in the 20's vs. the poverty of the Depression.

 

[Xahm]

On 7/15/2018 at 4:07 PM, Lady Florida. said:

I think many of us over a certain age weren't taught that the founding fathers were complicated, flawed people. In the 1960s and early 70s when I was in school they were lionized. Many of us didn't learn until we were adults that while some of them were against slavery or at least had a nagging conscience telling them it wasn't right, they also weren't ready to speak out against it or even willing to free their own slaves. 

We weren't taught about Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding's fondness for brothels and whorehouses. Or that Ben Franklin was a dirty old man.

While I was never specifically taught that all of the founding fathers were traditional Christians it was definitely implied. There was never any mention of deism, or that any of them questioned their beliefs, or that many of them were students of The Enlightenment. Thomas Paine is the only one we were taught as having openly questioned (in The Age of Reason, which was actually quite mild in it's questions), and he was ostracized by society for it. 

I don't know when the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings relationship became common knowledge but having attended school in NJ up to eight grade and high school in Florida, that was never mentioned in any of my history classes. I had one American History class in tenth grade that was team taught. One teacher gave us the dates and places and boring stuff while the other taught us the cool stuff that wasn't in the history books (I think they planned it that way with the good cop-bad cop style). Even in that class we weren't told about Hemings.

You're never too old to learn (general you) and while some new knowledge might be disappointing I don't think it should be withheld or hidden. I would rather know that certain leaders were human than be given the impression they were super human. I know people (mostly older like FIL or one of my aunts) who don't like hearing this stuff and think it's "rewriting history". They can't be convinced that it isn't rewriting history but bringing out new information or correcting misinformation. 

I appreciate that my teachers taught us a lot of the goods and bads of American history. We learned about internment camps, the Know-Nothing party, etc. We didn't have time to get to everything, of course. I remember being given a sort of "also, interesting stuff went down in South and Central America that you should check out." Still, I don't think salacious details of presidents' lives need to be included in a school class on American history unless they strongly influenced decision making in some way. They should be included as relevant in an adult-level biography, of course, but I don't believe it's some great loss if that gets missed K-12 or in a survey of history in undergrad.

[Lady Florida.]

59 minutes ago, xahm said:

I appreciate that my teachers taught us a lot of the goods and bads of American history. We learned about internment camps, the Know-Nothing party, etc. We didn't have time to get to everything, of course. I remember being given a sort of "also, interesting stuff went down in South and Central America that you should check out." Still, I don't think salacious details of presidents' lives need to be included in a school class on American history unless they strongly influenced decision making in some way. They should be included as relevant in an adult-level biography, of course, but I don't believe it's some great loss if that gets missed K-12 or in a survey of history in undergrad.

For the most part I agree but my point was really that children shouldn't be taught these historical figures are without flaws. They should be celebrated for their achievements without being put on a pedestal. Also, I think the part about being slave owners while claiming to think slavery is wrong should be taught. That's different from their bedroom antics. We get told that "it was just normal at the time and most people were okay with it and we shouldn't judge them by our standards" but we're not taught (or weren't when I was in school) that even many of the founding fathers thought knew slavery was wrong.

[Xahm]

9 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

For the most part I agree but my point was really that children shouldn't be taught these historical figures are without flaws. They should be celebrated for their achievements without being put on a pedestal. Also, I think the part about being slave owners while claiming to think slavery is wrong should be taught. That's different from their bedroom antics. We get told that "it was just normal at the time and most people were okay with it and we shouldn't judge them by our standards" but we're not taught (or weren't when I was in school) that even many of the founding fathers thought knew slavery was wrong.

I understand and agree. Thankfully, I was never taught to put the founding fathers on a pedestal, though once my mom bought some book that would have, for me to go through on my own time. I flipped through the first few pages and suddenly understood the perspective of many of the older folks I've known. I have an ancient Georgia history book (from the thirties or forties) I plan to use to show my kids how our understanding of history changes. 

[Tanaqui]

Quote

We get told that "it was just normal at the time and most people were okay with it and we shouldn't judge them by our standards" but we're not taught (or weren't when I was in school) that even many of the founding fathers thought knew slavery was wrong.

 

And lots of people didn't think it was okay, even at the time. It was the law in Pennsylvania that you couldn't own slaves. It was the law that if you visited with your slave, they were free after six months. It was the law that you couldn't send them home at five months then call them back, because even back then people understood loopholes. Washington knew he was breaking the law when he stayed there and kept sending his slaves home "to visit family" - he just didn't care. (And apparently his status meant nobody cared to stop him, either.)

[Ravin]

I didn't know until college that there were a lot of Texans who fought on the side of Mexico in the Texas revolution, or that there were more Texans of Mexican, rather than Anglo, ethnic background at that time. Ditto that there were many loyalists to the British crown in the American colonies.

I didn't know until I read something about beer that a lot of Germans settled in northern Mexico at one point.

I didn't know until law school that Indian reservations have actual governments (now I work for one).

I didn't know until I was an adult that Hawai'i was annexed by the U.S. following a violent coupe de tat carried out by American landowners against the indigenous monarchy, illegally backed by U.S. military forces that were in the harbor at the time.

Bosque Redondo, the internment camp where the Navajos and a lot of Apaches were held before their treaties were signed (and where, was used as a model for German Nazi death camps in WWII. 

 

[Ravin]

I thought of one more, which continues to have an impact on the politics of today: I learned just a few years ago that the U.S. backed the Shah of Iran to overthrow the democratically elected government of the time. When the Islamic Revolution came, that "minor detail" was a significant part of why Iran loathes the U.S. so much.

[Condessa]

The French and Indian War and the War of 1812 (particularly the British burning Washington).

Basically everything between the founding of Jamestown and the Revolutionary War.

I had never heard of the Persian Gulf War until after 9/11 when I was in high school.  I was 4 when it happened, so I had no memory of it.

 I was shocked that some had never been taught about the Japanese internment, until I thought about it and realized that I don’t think I ever heard about it in school, just life—I read The Moon Bridge as a kid, and watched the Karate Kid, and my family stopped and visited Manzanar on a road trip.

[Lady Florida.]

2 hours ago, Ravin said:

I didn't know until college that there were a lot of Texans who fought on the side of Mexico in the Texas revolution, or that there were more Texans of Mexican, rather than Anglo, ethnic background at that time. Ditto that there were many loyalists to the British crown in the American colonies.

I didn't know until I read something about beer that a lot of Germans settled in northern Mexico at one point.

I didn't know until I was an adult that Hawai'i was annexed by the U.S. following a violent coupe de tat carried out by American landowners against the indigenous monarchy, illegally backed by U.S. military forces that were in the harbor at the time.

 

 

Speaking of immigrants, I didn't know there were a large number of Italians in West Virginia until I taught with a guy of Italian descent from WV. When I joked about being Italian in WV he said his ancestors and many other Italians fresh off the boat in NYC were recruited to work in the coal mines during strikes, and ended up settling there.  

2 hours ago, Ravin said:

I thought of one more, which continues to have an impact on the politics of today: I learned just a few years ago that the U.S. backed the Shah of Iran to overthrow the democratically elected government of the time. When the Islamic Revolution came, that "minor detail" was a significant part of why Iran loathes the U.S. so much.

I knew that at the time ( I was 23 when the Shah was overthrown) but I didn't know about our backing of Batista in Cuba until I was an adult. We weren't taught that the U.S. backed a dictator (or many dictators actually). 

We were of course taught the Monroe Doctrine but it was taught mainly as our assertion that Europe needed to stay out of affairs in The Americas. We weren't taught that the prevailing sentiment in the U.S. was basically that Europe should not interfere in Central and South American countries but we were allowed to interfere ourselves. The doctrine was taught more or less that the U.S. was telling Europe these countries had a right to determine their own destinies (and gee, isn't America great to say every country should determine its destiny). In reality it meant we were the only ones who could meddle in their affairs and we could determine their destinies.

[TravelingChris]

2 hours ago, Ravin said:

I thought of one more, which continues to have an impact on the politics of today: I learned just a few years ago that the U.S. backed the Shah of Iran to overthrow the democratically elected government of the time. When the Islamic Revolution came, that "minor detail" was a significant part of why Iran loathes the U.S. so much.

I was astounded to be reading that Iranians were marching on the streets recently to bring back the Shah.  I knew there had been freedom movements but hadn't realized it had gone to that end.  

[egao_gakari]

10 minutes ago, Michelle Conde said:

 I was shocked that some had never been taught about the Japanese internment, until I thought about it and realized that I don’t think I ever heard about it in school, just life—I read The Moon Bridge as a kid, and watched the Karate Kid, and my family stopped and visited Manzanar on a road trip.

I think I was taught about it in 8th grade, but you're right that I'd also heard about it through pop culture and other sources before then. That's a pretty dramatic example of discrimination against U.S. citizens, which is something I think we do a pretty good job of confronting, both through education and culture. I think we do a pretty bad job of confronting the wrongs we've committed against other countries, though. I remember hearing about the atom bombs, but I never learned in class about the firebombings of Dresden and Tokyo, which actually killed more people. Can't remember where I ran across that info, but I do remember thinking, "Wait, what?"

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, Ravin said:

I didn't know until college that there were a lot of Texans who fought on the side of Mexico in the Texas revolution, or that there were more Texans of Mexican, rather than Anglo, ethnic background at that time. Ditto that there were many loyalists to the British crown in the American colonies.

I didn't know until I read something about beer that a lot of Germans settled in northern Mexico at one point.

I didn't know until law school that Indian reservations have actual governments (now I work for one).

 

The Texas thing reminds me that one place I've learned (or learned new insights about) unusual tidbits is through Henry Louis Gates' various genealogy programs. I haven't seen all of them, but he finds interesting ways to juxtapose guests' backgrounds in ways that make historical events intersect and bring up little known facts. He also has a series on African American history that had lots of facts that I would not know otherwise. So about Texas, he did a segment about Eva Longoria's ancestors (I think), pointing out that they were "here" basically as long as anyone else's ancestors have been. Very, very interesting.

HLG also did a segment on John Legend, and it turns out that he has descendants in common with a woman who lives locally to me. I don't know if she knows about this particular program segment, but she wrote a book on local African American history. She looks at the history of the few African American families left in the town nearby (and she sells the books to raise money for a local church that has a free meal program!). Her own family endured leaving slavery (an ancestor buying various family members and leaving the south), only to have some of the kids stolen and carried back into slavery! Anyway, I was streaming this segment and had to stop it to find my copy of this woman's book. Sure enough, John Legend is descended from the same family she is, and I was hearing that same horrifying tale on TV after reading her book. I still get chills thinking about it.

Almost everything I know about Texas or Hawaii is something I learned as an adult and often by reading historical fiction and then digging more.

That sounds like a cool and complicated job.

[SKL]

On 7/15/2018 at 7:43 AM, Quill said:

I did not know, until I was 39 and taking classes at college, about the internment of Japenese Americans following Pearl Harbor. Had NO IDEA this had happened here and was totally shocked to learn it. I don’t know if my schools never mentioned this, or I was out in left field when this was mentioned, or it just never reached the inside of my brain that it happened here, on American soil, to American citizens of Japenese descent. But it was news to me. 

It was definitely covered in my public school education.

[milovany]

Before researching Eastern Orthodoxy ten years ago, I did not know anything at all about Christianity coming into the Americas on the west side, from Russia via Alaska in the 17th and 18th centuries.  All I'd ever heard when it came to Christians coming to the new world was about the Pilgrims coming from Europe to the East Coast. Such a rich history in Alaska and other places as noted in the link below.  As a side, but related, note -- I went on a pilgrimage to Alaska two summers ago and visited oh, so many Christian sites there. The main reason we went was to attend the annual feast day for St. Herman of Alaska at a little church built where he'd lived on Spruce Island. I'd never heard of St. Herman before becoming Orthodox but wow, what a story and life. The whole trip was quite interesting! 

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Timeline_of_Orthodoxy_in_America

[Sk8ermaiden]

On 7/15/2018 at 10:43 AM, thessa516 said:

 

 

I'll add the show Drunk History on Comedy Central. The premise is that the narrator and host get drunk together and re-tell a story from American history. It is then re-enacted and lip-synced by actors. You'll be watching and suddenly realize that George Washington is being played by John Lithgow or that Hitler is Weird Al Yankovic. All the stories are true, even if the narration is a bit on the inebriated side. It's hilarious and sticks in my mind. I sure would have paid better attention in history class if Jean Lafitte had been portrayed by Jason Momoa.

Bad language isn't something that bothers us much in our family. (DD knows not to repeat it.) So we watch these together. They're fantastic! They make an effort to tell stories people wouldn't know, and also try to include more female and minority historical figures than we get in our history books. 

[bethben]

For me, I had heard that slavery had ended without a war in England and wondered why it didn't happen here.  I recently learned that it was illegal to free slaves in some states and with others, there was a real problem of how would these freed slaves take care of themselves.  I also wondered why the rich plantation owners didn't just start paying their slaves (probably would have taken a law and law enforcement) and having that end the problem.  Apparently, many plantations were in loads of debt due to just being farmers being at the mercy of markets for their products and weather.  The soil was also worn out with the crops they were planting on them.  So, quite a few plantation owners' wealth was tied up in their slaves.  For some, their only source of cash was to sell a slave.  And when the slaves were rightly freed, that is why the plantation lifestyle of the south ended.  

[Stacia]

Some new to me (because I recently read A Moment in the Sun -- a historical fiction book based on lots of actual history)...

• there has been one successful coup d'etat on US soil, which happened in Wilmington, NC, in 1898
• the Philippine-American War (1899 to 1902). 
• the bicycle corps first tested out by the 25th United States Infantry (an African-American regiment).