In the early hours of April 15, 1912 some 110 years ago the RMS Titanic passenger ship sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage, capturing the world's attention and taking with her more than 1,500 passengers and crew.
Category: North American History
Post
The Lost Colony of Roanoke: 7 Theories on What Happened
After having established the colony of Roanoke in July 1587, Englishman John White wouldn't return until three years later, in August of 1590. He was heartened to see "a great smoke rise in the Ile Roanoak neere the place where I left our Colony in the yeere 1587." But what he found upon docking was nothing less than shocking: the site had apparently been fortified, but everyone was gone - not a single soul remained.
Post
Unbelievable True Story About the Fox Sisters, Spiritualism, and the Biggest Hoax of the 19th Century
Word got around and before they knew it, people from all over New Jersey and New York were coming to talk to the famous spirit (with help from Maggie and Kate, of course). Thus, modern spiritualism was born and the Fox sisters became the first "mediums." In fact, the movement grew so large that by the year 1867, more than 11,000,000 Americans (or two-fifths of the entire population at the time) were "spiritualists."
Post
The Lakota Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is "an act of ritual self-torture originally performed as a 'drama' to symbolize the capture, torture, and release of an enemy" that traditionally followed the cycle of the summer buffalo hunt. Moreover, members generally act out this self-torture for healing or as payment for the restoration of an ill person or the return of a loved one from danger.
Post
Consumerism, the European Union, and Euro-Terrorism
While consumerism began in several countries across the global as early as the seventeenth century, it boomed in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was this American model that was explicitly exported to the rest of the world in the 1900s, particularly Europe, as evidenced in postwar reconstruction programs such as the Marshall Plan.
Post
The Rise of Extremist Groups Following the Great Depression
The crash of the United States stock market on October 29, 1929 triggered a global depression in which extremist groups such as fascists and Nazis were allowed to thrive. Between the years of 1929 and 1933 prices would fall, output shrank, and unemployment soared as the world economy collapsed. The U.S. market lost two-thirds of its value, the British market one-fifth, and the German an astounding one-half.
Post
Book Review: From the Ground Up: The History of Mining in Utah
In From the Ground Up, historian, Utah State Historical Society member, and editor Colleen Whitley sets out to fill the void that exists in the history of the mining industry in the state of Utah. Aiming to provide an overview of major mining ventures and guideposts to further research, the experienced author and editor argues that mining played a vital role in diversifying both the economy and population of Utah.
Post
How and why the United States Became Involved in World War I and the Aftermath
On June 29, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist lobbying for a pan-Slavic nation, murdered the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, triggering a series of events that led to the Great War. By the end of the following month, nearly a century of mutual defense alliance treaties had led the majority of Europe to wage war against each other.
Post
Women and Reform Movements in the United States
Women became increasingly involved in a wide variety of reform movements between 1865 and 1920. What were some of these movements and what did they accomplish? Women’s suffrage grew in popularity during the Progressive Era, beginning in the late nineteenth century. One of the earliest movements that was largely spearheaded by women was that of...
Post
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Great Depression
When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933, he had to figure out a way to pull the nation out of the Great Depression that President Hoover had essentially refused to acknowledge.