Biographies
Table of Contents
Timothy Dexter
Samuel L. Knapp. “Life of Lord Timothy Dexter; with sketches of the eccentric characters that composed his associates...”
“Lord Timothy Dexter.” Historic Ipswich.
William Cleaves Todd. “Timothy Dexter, known as "Lord Timothy Dexter," of Newburyport, Mass. An inquiry into his life and true character.”
Leslie Landrigan. “Timothy Dexter, the Ridiculous Millionaire Who Sold Coal to Newcastle.” New England Historical Society.
Margaret Nicholas. The World's Greatest Cranks and Crackpots.”
John J. Currier. “History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1909.” (Vol. II)
Timothy Dexter had about as much common sense as a squirrel and still ended up wealthier than I’ll ever be - and it’s all because he’s probably one of the luckiest men who ever lived. Timmy here was born in what would become the United States in the mid-1700s, and despite being an elementary school drop out with nothing to his name, he managed to find a wealthy widow to be his wife. With his wife’s money, he made one stupid decision after another… and became incredibly wealthy doing it. After the American Revolution, he bought up a bunch of U.S. currency that had become worthless. A few years later, the government redeemed the bills for treasury bonds, and Mr. Dexter made a lot of money which he then used to purchase two ships for exporting goods to Europe and the Caribbean. Knowing that Dexter didn’t have a lot of business sense, someone jokingly (or not) suggested he should ship bed warmers to the Caribbean - a place which is famously not cold enough for a bed warmer to make any sense. But Dexter did it, and when the shipment arrived in the Caribbean, all of the bed warmers were immediately bought up as ladles for the molasses industry. After that success, Dexter sent another shipment to the famously hot and humid islands; this time, wool mittens. But just after Dexter’s shipment arrived, a group of traders bought the whole lot because they were on their way back to the icy wastelands of northern Asia. Probably just annoyed that someone could be so stupid and make so much money, someone then told Dexter he should load up a ship with coal and send it to Newcastle, a famous coal town. But Dexter did it and sold every last bit of the coal - because the miners had just gone on strike. Over and over again, it seemed like Dexter’s luck just wouldn’t run out. He sent a shipload of Bibles to southeast Asia with notes explaining that everybody without one would go to hell - and made about a million dollars. He stockpiled literal tons of whalebones because of a misunderstanding, but the next year, long corsets reinforced with whalebone became the fashion - and Dexter had a monopoly. After decades of this nonsense, Dexter, who had started making people call him “Lord Dexter,” decided to publish a book with all of his opinions and advice. But because he, again, had dropped out of school at eight, Lord Dexter wasn’t the best author. The rambling booklet was full of misspellings and absolutely no punctuation, but people actually bought it - I’m assuming mostly as a joke, but still. A few years later, he faked his death just to see how things would go - funeral, coffin, everything - and proceeded to beat his wife because he didn’t think she had cried enough. However, his luck ran out eventually. After a reportedly long and addictive relationship with “spirituous liquor,” Lord Timothy Dexter finally kicked the bucket - for real this time - at the age of 59 in 1806.
Simo Häyhä
Petri Kivimäki. “Tutkijan Kädet Alkoivat Vapista – Maailmankuulun Sotalegendan Simo Häyhän Muistelmat Löytyivät Sattumalta.” Yle Uutiset.
Aki-Mauri Huhtinen and Jari Rantapelkonen. "Perception Management in the Art of War." Tiede Ja Ase.
Michael Stahl. “The Deadliest Marksman’s Cold, Brave Stand.” Narratively.
Did you know that history’s deadliest sniper didn’t even use a scope? Simo Häyhä was born in the winter of 1905 to a family of farmers in southern Finland, where he grew up hunting and skiing in the forests. Over time, shooting would become a hobby to the young Simo, who began taking home trophy after trophy for his marksmanship. During his mandatory military service, Simo excelled and later became an officer. But it wasn’t until the Soviet Invasion of Finland that Simo’s services would be truly needed.
In 1939, the USSR, fresh off the invasion of Poland, invaded Finland. But as Simo would demonstrate, the Finns wouldn’t make it easy. Simo's tactics as a sniper were simple but effective. He would camouflage himself in the snow, even putting snow into his mouth to prevent his breath from being seen. And instead of a scope, he used traditional “iron sights” on his rifle as the glass of a scope might reflect the sunlight and give away his position. Then, he’d just patiently wait for Soviet soldiers to enter his line of sight and take them out with deadly precision. In fact, Simo was so invisible and deadly that rumors began to spread about the mysterious sniper some called the “White Death.”
So that’s how, with only iron sights, Simo went on a reign of terror against the Soviet’s Red Army, racking up the highest sniper’s kill streak in recorded history. In just over three months, Simo killed roughly 500 Soviets - about five a day. Unfortunately for Simo, though, his streak would come to an end when he took a bullet to the face. Although the injury ended Simo’s military career, shattered his jaw, and left him with a permanent visual reminder of its severity, Simo survived. In fact, he lived a long, seemingly happy life, still going out shooting in the forests of Finland until he passed away at the age of 96 in 2002.
Thomas Midgley Jr.
“Personalities in Science: Thomas Midgely Jr.” Scientific American. May 1937.
Koller et al. “Recent Developments in Low-Level Lead Exposure and Intellectual Impairment in Children.” Environmental Health Perspectives. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
“Thomas Midgley, Jr.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
Paul B. Stretesky and Michael J. Lynch. “The Relationship between Lead and Crime.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. American Sociological Association.
Global Ozone Observing System. “CFC Responsibility Claimed for Stratospheric Ozone Depletion.” Environmental Conservation. Cambridge University Press.
“Milestones, Nov. 13, 1944.” Notice of Death. Time Magazine.
This man created over 100 inventions and was hailed as a hero of chemistry… But of all those inventions, two are the most remembered - not because they helped the world, but because they each caused such terrible damage.
When Thomas Midgley Jr. began working at General Motors in the early 1900s, automobile manufacturers were trying to remedy a common issue at the time, engine knock. Engine knock is caused by uneven combustion within an engine, and it can cause a lot of damage to an engine over time. But with a lot of trial and error, Midgley discovered a cheap and easy to produce compound that could eliminate engine knock just by adding it to gasoline. That compound? Tetraethyl lead. The dangers of lead were well-known by the 1920s, but Midgley argued that such a small amount of elemental lead would be released in the combustion that it wasn’t really a concern. Incidentally, Midgley suffered from lead poisoning within a year of this discovery, but I’m sure that was unrelated.
Midgley wasn’t one to rest on his laurels, though. He went on to solve the problem of refrigeration - creating the first affordable, stable, non-flammable, and non-toxic refrigerant. Previous refrigerants were incredibly toxic and flammable, and to prove just how safe his new mixture was, Midgley inhaled a deep breath of the stuff and blew out a candle as he exhaled in front of other chemists. This new refrigerant was sold as “Freon” and was the world’s first chlorofluorocarbon, or CFC.
In the decades that followed Midgley’s discovery, CFCs became incredibly popular in a variety of products, and that prevalence is actually what made CFCs so dangerous. It turns out that initial estimates about how CFCs would degrade in the atmosphere were really wrong. Instead of safely dispersing at a low altitude, CFCs rose into the stratosphere where their chlorine atoms ripped the oxygen from ozone molecules. And as the ozone in our atmosphere degraded, the ozone layer developed a growing gap, allowing harmful ultraviolet radiation to reach the earth. It’s taken decades of CFC reductions for the ozone layer to recover. But what about the gasoline with a teeny bit of lead? Well, it turned out that the lead wasn’t just great at reducing engine knock - it was also great at aerosolizing into the air we breathe. Researchers have tied the use of leaded gasoline to developmental deficits and increased cancer and criminal activity in generations. That’s why, when most of us go to a gas station, we can only buy UNleaded gas as leaded gas has been banned for consumer automobiles across the world over the last few decades.
Although it took many years for the true effects of CFCs and leaded gasoline to come to light, Midgley didn't have to wait that long for another invention to cause him harm. In 1940, Midgley became partially paralyzed after contracting polio, and to maintain his independence, he created a system of pulleys that could lift him in and out of bed without assistance. But just weeks before Thanksgiving in 1944, something went wrong, and Midgley ended up trapped in the harness with a rope pulled tightly around his neck. His own invention had ended his life.
Caterina Sforza
Niccolo Machiavelli. “Florentine Histories.” Translated by L. Banfield & H. Mansfield.
Julia L. Hairston. “Skirting the Issue: Machiavelli's Caterina Sforza.” Renaissance Quarterly.
“This Renaissance Warrior Woman Defied Powerful Popes to Defend Her Lands.” National Geographic.
Pier Desiderio Pasolini. “Catherine Sforza.” Translated by Paul Sylvester.
“Tigress of Forli : The Life of Caterina Sforza.” Elizabeth Lev.
There are some people from history you just wouldn’t want to mess with - like Caterina Sforza of Italy.
Caterina was married at only 10 years old in an arranged marriage to Girolamo Riario, the nephew of the Pope, and although the age difference between the two was troubling to say the least, her husband’s position within society and government offered Caterina intense respect and power. But when Girolamo’s uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, died in 1484, things went downhill - fast. Girolamo was hated by a lot of people, and the protector of his wealth, power, and status had just died. So as soon as he received news of the Pope’s death, he immediately left for Rome to defend the city - and his family - against those who wanted to take his wealth for themselves. But Caterina had another idea. She wasn’t just going to defend the city, she was going to take over the papal fortress. And that’s exactly what she did. At seven months pregnant, Catarina rode into the papal fortress, took control of the pope's military, and held it until her husband negotiated with the Cardinals to keep his land and power. Things were okay… for now.
Unfortunately, the next pope was an old enemy of Girolamo’s family, and without his protection, Girolamo was soon facing attacks from every direction. Eventually, mercenaries stormed Girolamo’s fortress and captured Caterina and her children. But Caterina had a plan. She convinced the attackers that she could persuade her husband’s army to surrender, so they allowed her to leave on the condition that, should she not return, they would execute her children. As soon as Caterina was out of the men’s reach, however, she made it very clear there would be no surrender when she pulled up her dress, grabbed her groin, and basically said, “I dare you to kill my children. I have what’s needed to make more.” Caterina’s display of such intense tenacity seemed to revitalize her husband’s army, and the fortress was soon back under their control - but it was too late. Girolamo was dead. This wasn’t something Caterina took lightly. She found the perpetrators and hanged some, while she had others quartered in the streets, their bodies, well, body parts, displayed at the gates of the city. The attacker’s wealth was redistributed to the poor, and Caterina quickly reduced the taxes of her people to try and win their trust. Justice had been served.
But without a husband, Caterina’s power was limited. Coincidentally, Caterina soon had a second husband, and just like the first, he was assassinated. Unlike Caterina’s first husband, though, her second husband was cut up into dozens of tiny pieces by his assassins - an intentional defacement of his body. Caterina was furious. So she found the perpetrators, their wives, and their children, and cut them into dozens of tiny pieces - some while they were still alive.
However, the excitement in Caterina’s life was far from over. Throughout the next few years, Caterina married for a third time, tried (and failed) to poison the pope, lost her third husband, was taken as a prisoner of war, tortured, and finally released from her imprisonment. But all of these struggles took their toll on Catarina. She had lost all of her land and power, and her energy and will to fight were gone. So this once powerful woman, the fearsome leader who had been known as the “Tigress of Forlì,” spent her last few years focused on her children, herbal remedies, and spiritual retreat in a local convent. And one spring morning, she didn’t rise from her bed. Despite her defeats and quiet death though, she’s still remembered for her tenacity, strength, and brutality, and that’s why she’s one person from history I just wouldn’t want to mess with.
Boudicca
“The Revolt of Boudica According to Tacitus.” Translated by John Jackson.
“The Revolt of Boudica According to Cassius Dio.” Translated by John Jackson.
“Roman Britain.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
How far would you go to avenge the honor of your family? For the warrior queen Boudica, there was no limit. As Romans invaded the island of Britain nearly 2,000 years ago, they murdered and enslaved the native Celts. To try and protect his people, a Celtic king named Prasutagus surrendered to Roman control. In fact, Prasutagus even went so far as to make the Roman emperor a joint heir with his two daughters. And things went well… until Prasutagus died. After the death of the king, Roman officials brutally attacked the Iceni Celts, publicly flogging the queen, Boudica, and assaulting her daughters. It was a crime that demanded revenge. So Boudica, the tall and terrifying warrior queen, gathered up the Iceni and surrounding Celtic tribes and led them on a campaign to destroy the invaders.
First, Boudica attacked the Roman capital in Britain, Camulodunum. Her army quickly destroyed the Roman forces at the capital, and the remaining Romans took refuge in the temple of Claudius. But just as the Romans had destroyed the Celts' sacred groves, Boudica set the temple on fire… with the Romans still inside. After destroying Camulodunum, Boudica’s army marched to Londinium, then Verulamium - each time leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. By the time Boudica was done, her army had killed as many as 80,000 Roman citizens. Now, during all of these attacks, the Roman governor was trying to gather enough of a fighting force to actually face Boudica and her army of hundreds of thousands. But as Boudica continued to carry out her revenge, the Roman governor realized he was out of time. He would have to face Boudica.
Javelins and arrows flew, axes clattered against shields, and swords found flesh as the two armies collided. The battle carried on for hours and the blood of thousands soaked the soil. But it wouldn’t be a Celtic victory. Despite the Romans’ smaller numbers, their famous military tactics had made all the difference. After weeks of violent revenge, Boudica had finally lost. Surrounded by tens of thousands of her dead countrymen and women, Boudica retreated with the survivors and, although she planned another attack on the Romans, she died before it could be carried out. Despite the great loss at the conclusion of Boudica’s story, she has still gone down in history as a fierce defender of her family and her culture who was willing to do anything to protect what she loved.
TOMOE GOZEN
“The Tale of the Heike.” Stanford University Press. Translated by Helen C. McCullough.
Michael DeMarco. “Women and Asian Martial Traditions.”
Stephen Turnbull. “Samurai Women 1184-1877.”
When most people think of Samurai, they think of the many samurai men who dominated both society and the battlefield beginning in medieval Japan. But one of the most famous samurai wasn’t a man at all - it was an especially dangerous woman.
Tomoe Gozen is a legendary samurai, and not just because of her gender. In the Heike Monogatari, Tomoe is described as an incredible archer and such an unmatched swordswoman that she was worth more than 1,000 men put together. In fact, she was so talented and courageous that it’s written, “she was… ready to confront a demon or god,” with or without her horse. And because of Tomoe’s skill, the general Minamoto no Yoshinaka made her the captain of his forces in battle. So with her bow and a massive sword, she dominated the battlefield as Yoshinaka fought for control of Japan in the Genpei War.
But Tomoe couldn’t do everything herself, and Yoshinaka’s attempts to consolidate his power just got him in trouble over and over again. Eventually, Yoshinaka knew the next battle would be his last, but that didn’t deter him. He was determined to die honorably. So Yoshinaka, Tomoe, and several hundred other fighters rode into one last battle. As the battle wore on, Tomoe fought valiantly - but it wasn’t enough. Yoshinaka’s men were cut down by the dozens, by the hundreds, until only five remained. Facing almost imminent death in battle, Yoshinaka ordered Tomoe to flee so he could die with honor.
Following orders, Tomoe prepared to leave, but it pained her too much to abandon her commander in such a dishonorable way. She thought to herself, “If only I could find a worthy foe! I could fight one last battle for [Lord Yoshinaka] to watch.” Just then, thirty enemy riders came into view on the horizon, led by a famously strong warrior named Moroshige. ”Perfect.” With the speed and precision of a hawk, Tomoe rode up to the enemy, snatched Moroshige from his horse and twisted off his head before throwing it behind her as she rode away. She had performed her final act of valor.
After departing the battle, Tomoe dismounted her horse and removed her armor and weapons, and with great care, she placed them on the ground. She wouldn’t need them anymore. Tomoe knew she was leaving a part of herself behind, but it didn’t matter. She was on her way to live the rest of her life in peace.
Khutulun
“Kaidu Khan.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
Marco Polo. “The Travels of Marco Polo, Vol. 2.” Ed. Henri Cordier.
Khutulun, the great granddaughter of Genghis Khan, wasn’t your average dainty princess. Of her father, Kaidu Khan’s many children, Khutulun was his only daughter, but that seems to have just encouraged her to become one of the strongest women in history.
As Khutulun became of marrying age, she agreed with her parents’ request that she begin looking for a husband. However, she attached one very important condition to this agreement: she would only marry the man who could defeat her in wrestling. Now it’s important to note that not only was Khutulun incredibly beautiful, but she was also unmatched in strength.
For context, she would later go on to ride her horse into enemy lines where she would use her bare hands to snatch an enemy off of their horse just as a hawk grabs its prey. She would then ride back to her fathers side, bringing the captured enemy with her. So this challenge, however simple, was going to be a lot more difficult than many would think.
Nonetheless, Khutulun’s parents agreed to her terms and a proclamation was made throughout the land that any man could wrestle for the princess’ hand in marriage so long as they provided a wager of 100 horses. 100 defeated bachelors later, Kutluhan had acquired 10,000 horses. And so it continued until a prince from a nearby kingdom arrived and offered the extraordinarily high wager of 1000 horses for his opportunity to gain Khutulun as his wife. According to Marco Polo, the Italian explorer who recorded the event, this young prince was so strong, handsome, and charming that Khutulun‘s father and mother begged her to throw the match in his favor. But Khutulun refused, saying “I’ll never lose a match if I can help it. If he defeats me, I’ll gladly be his wife. Otherwise, I’ll take the horses.“ And so a multitude of people gathered to watch the match, as the size of the 1,000-horse bet and the prince’s rumored strength made this match especially extraordinary.
As Khutulun and the young prince grappled in Kaidu Khan’s court, it seemed like the match might end in a draw. The minutes ticked by and neither Khutulun nor the prince appeared to have any advantage. But suddenly, Khutulun overpowered the prince and deftly threw him to the ground. Ashamed of his loss, the young prince quickly left with his entourage - minus 1,000 horses. Although some European versions of the story later said that Khutulun threw the final wrestling match for true love, the original story is one of an incredible woman who refused to compromise. And that’s the one I think we should hold on to.
Daniel Hahn
Christina Hall. “’Radioactive Boy Scout’ Worries Neighbors.” Seattle Times.
Ken Silverstein. “The Radioactive Boy Scout.” Harper’s Magazine.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. “David Hahn Part 01 of 01.” FBI Records: The Vault.
Cyrus Farivar. “Man Who Tried to Build a Homemade Nuclear Reactor Didn’t Die of Radiation Poisoning.” ARS Technica.
Daniel Hahn was fascinated by science from an early age and was reading chemistry textbooks at the age of 12. But his illegal experiments with radioactivity are what made him famous.
By 14, the young David wasn’t making glow-in-the-dark slime - he was synthesizing nitroglycerin, the central component of dynamite. Despite his intelligence, Daniel didn’t do well in school, and as he continued his home experiments, he only seemed to get into more and more trouble. To give his son some purpose in life, Daniel’s father had Daniel join the Boy Scouts. But Daniel just brought his experiments - and trouble - with him. On one camping trip, he blew a hole in his tent with the powdered magnesium he had brought along to make fireworks. On another trip, he was sent home after stealing and disassembling smoke detectors for his experiments. Nonetheless, David stayed the course in the Boy Scouts and began pursuing his Eagle Scout badge, the highest rank within the organization. Unlike other Boy Scouts, who often get their badges with community service projects, David‘s project was focused on nuclear physics. As his experiments became more increasingly extreme and led to an explosive accident, David - and his experiments - were exiled from his father and stepmother‘s basement. But David wasn’t deterred. He created a new laboratory in his mothers gardening shed, where he spent well over $1000 on his radiological experiments. To learn more about radioactivity and acquire radioactive elements, David began impersonating a professor in letters to vendors and even the US government. As his experiments continued, David ended up building a rudimentary and uncontrollable prelude to a nuclear reactor which ended up putting out so much radiation that it was detectable multiple houses away. After realizing his atomic experiment was wildly out of control, David disassembled the partial reactor and placed most of the materials in the trunk of his car. However, David’s suspicious activity as he was loading up his supplies led a neighbor to call the police. When police arrived, they didn’t believe David’s story about waiting for a friend and searched his car. As he opened the trunk for police, David warned them to be careful of the toolbox which he claimed was full of radioactive material. Panicked, police assumed that the toolbox contained a nuclear bomb and, in a moment of questionable judgement, chose to bring the suspected nuke to the police station. As a bomb technician inspected the toolbox, he discovered that there was no bomb, but David was telling the truth: it was full of highly radioactive material. Faced with such high levels of radioactivity, the local police department called in All of the acronyms: the DOE, the EPA, the FBI, and the NRC. However, all of these organizations spent such a long time arguing about who was ultimately responsible for pursuing the case that it gave David’s mother time to clean out her gardening shed, as she was afraid that the radioactive project might send her son to prison for the rest of his life. So by the time the EPA took control of the shed, the most radioactive elements had been taken away by the local garbage collector. Even with much of the radioactive material missing, radiation levels were so high that the EPA declared the shed a Superfund site and spent tens of thousands of dollars dismantling the shed and placing it and its contents into steel drums to be taken away and buried in the desert. Despite the chaos that he caused, Daniel was never arrested for his experiments and went on to earn his Eagle Scout badge and join the Navy. When interviewed about his experiments, David said, “I don’t believe I’ve taken more than five years of my life.“ Unfortunately, David passed away in 2016 at the age of 39 due to drug abuse, but he will be forever remembered as the “Radioactive Boy Scout.”
Ona Judge
Jessie MacLeod. “Ona Judge.” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Erica Armstrong Dunbar. “Never Caught: The Washington’s’ Relentless Pursuit…”
Lindsay M. Chervinsky. “The Remarkable Story of Ona Judge.” White House Historical Association.
Alexandria Cannon. "Gradual Abolition Act of 1780." George Washington's Mount Vernon.
"Washington's Changing Views on Slavery." George Washington's Mount Vernon.
"Life Story: Ona Judge." Women and the American Story. New York Historical Society.
Have you learned about the incredible woman who escaped enslavement from the President of the United States?
Ona Judge was born in 1774 to an enslaved Black woman and a free White man in Mount Vernon, Virginia. Although her father was a free man, by law, Ona was born as the property of her mother’s enslavers - George and Martha Washington. As Ona grew up, she was brought into the Washington household, a somewhat common practice for enslaved people of mixed race. Her position within the household is why Ona was one of the few enslaved people taken by the Washingtons to Philadelphia when George Washington was elected the first constitutional President of the United States in 1789. Over time, Ona became an increasingly integral part of the Washingtons’ lives, so much so that she was made the personal maid of the First Lady. But while Ona was earning the trust of her enslavers, she was also surrounded by a large community of abolitionists and free Black Americans, as Pennsylvania had begun a gradual abolition of slavery in 1780. To avoid this law, Washington had his enslaved people, including Ona, secretly rotated out of Pennsylvania and into Virginia every six months to avoid their legal emancipation. It was just before one of these trips back to Virginia that Ona chose to free herself from the Washingtons.
Such an escape was certainly dangerous, as Washington had sold other enslaved people to Caribbean plantations after failed attempts at self-emancipation. But Ona desired freedom more than she feared the former president. With the help of the Black community, Ona escaped her enslavers and boarded a ship to New Hampshire. Washington furiously put out a $10 reward for Ona’s capture and return before sending a New Hampshire official to bring her back. But although the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 would have allowed Ona to be brought back by force, Washington was wary of the public spectacle such a kidnapping would cause. Given that Ona wouldn’t return of her own free will, the New Hampshire official gave up. But Washington, despite his public condemnations of slavery, still demanded the return of what he considered his property. Washington continued his attempts to reclaim Ona until his death in 1799, but she was never caught. Ona went on to marry and grow her family as a free woman, fighting for abolition and sharing her story before her death in 1848.
Dr. John Snow
”Cholera.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
”John Snow.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
Kathleen Tuthill. “John Snow and the Broad Street Pump: On the Trail of an Epidemic.” Department of Epidemiology, University of California Los Angeles.
Ajesh Kannadan. “History of the Miasma Theory of Disease.” ESSAI.
If you live in an area with stable access to clean drinking water, you may have never even heard about diseases like cholera, and it’s due in large part to this 19th century doctor. So how did he find a “cure” for this millennia-old disease?
First, let’s talk about how people get cholera. Cholera, like typhus and polio, are generally considered fecal to oral route diseases. But in my class, I call them “poop diseases“ because in non-medical terms, you get this disease when someone else’s poop manages to end up in your mouth. There are a lot of ways that this can happen, including poor handwashing, unsafe food preparation, and most importantly when we’re talking about cholera, polluted water. But in the early 1800s, the prevailing theory in medicine was that diseases spread through ”miasma,” or bad air. So when people started getting sick in England as the Thames overflowed with sewage, doctors said it was because of the bad air… And anyone with a nose could certainly tell you that there was some bad air around. But these theories and their “cures” did very little, if anything, to actually stop the spread of disease. However, this all changed with the research of Dr. John Snow. No not that one, this one. Dr. Snow was a renowned anesthetist and surgeon, and he noticed that one specific outbreak of cholera (which ultimately killed over 600 people) was concentrated around Broad Street in the outskirts of London. After researching and interviewing the families of this outbreak‘s victims, Dr. Snow concluded that the outbreak came from a contaminated well pump. Although the severity of the outbreak led officials to initially shut down the well by removing the pump handle, they later reopened the well after other doctors assured them that bad air was the true culprit of the outbreak. Still, the removal of the pump, even if temporary, had likely helped limit local exposure to this terrible disease. Over time, even the research of Dr. Snow's critics would prove him right, and a later investigation found that the well had been dug only 3 feet from a cesspit which had begun to leak into the well's supply. As more and more research corroborated Dr. Snow‘s initial hypothesis that cholera was spread not by bad air but by bad water, our understanding of cholera and other poop diseases was permanently changed for the better.
Shaka Zulu
Maxwell Zakhele Shamase (Interview). “Shaka Zulu: Founding Father of the Zulu Nation.” Deutsche Welt.
“Shaka, Zulu Chief.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
Keith F. Otterbein. “The Evolution of Zulu Warfare.” The Kansas Journal of Sociology. (1964)
Dan Wylie. “Textual Incest: Nathaniel Isaacs and the Development of the Shaka Myth.” History in Africa. (1992)
C.T. Binns. “Field Research in Zululand.” Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory. (1969)
Have you learned about this revolutionary African king? Shaka Zulu, the illegitimate son of a Zulu chieftain, was born around 1787 in modern-day South Africa. Because of the cultural pressure surrounding his birth, Shaka and his mother were sent away to live with a neighboring tribe, the Mthethwa. In this exile, the young Shaka grew into a capable and courageous young man, and was recruited into the Mthethwa army by its king, Dingiswayo. Now, it’s important to understand that, at the time, battles in the region were more of a ceremonial challenge than true warfare. Each tribe would stand in formation about 100 yards apart with their rawhide shields and throwing spears. Then small groups of warriors from each tribe would make their way within about 50 yards of one another, where they would throw insults – and their spears - until one side gave up. Afterward, the losing side would pay for their loss by giving up cattle or small amounts of territory to the winning tribe. Few people died in these battles, but Shaka wanted to change that.
After being made a commander in Dingiswayo’s army, he proposed a new form of fighting: in close quarters with a short spear and more advanced formations, such as his famous “Bull Horn.” With these new methods, Shaka would later build an empire, but first, he needed his own tribe. So when Shaka’s father died, Dingiswayo helped Shaka take the Zulu throne from his half brother. In his new role as leader of the Zulu, Shaka was soon forced to use his unique tactics to defend the Zulu from an attacking tribe. And although he was outnumbered by the thousands, Shaka prevailed. Seeing Shaka’s bloody victory against a much larger and more powerful tribe, a number of small tribes soon joined with the Zulu.
As Shaka’s military strength grew, he began wars of conquest – expanding Zulu territory from 100 to 80,000 square miles. It wasn’t until the death of Shaka‘s mother that his empire building came to a sudden end. In his intense despair over the death of his mother, Shaka reportedly ordered a year of grieving during which no crops could be planted and no milk could be used. Furthermore, all women found pregnant during this time of grief were to be executed alongside their husband. Shaka wasn’t content to keep his pain within his own tribe, so he began sending troops on one raid after another. But all of this chaos and death were more than Shaka’s brothers were willing to accept. And that’s why, in September of 1828, they assassinated Shaka Zulu, ending the reign of the man who had grown a tribe into an empire.
Shaka Zulu Disclaimer
Shaka Zulu founded an empire and revolutionized warfare throughout Southern Africa. But before we get into the history of this complex and honestly understudied man, I want to clear up a few things about Shaka Zulu. Unfortunately, most of Shaka Zulu‘s history is unverifiable, due both to the methods used to preserve his history and the biases and motivations of the people who have recorded it. Some of our history of Shaka Zulu is derived from oral histories as told and passed down by the Zulu and other surrounding tribes. And while they are incredibly rich cultural artifacts, oral histories are difficult to verify and especially prone to change over time. So although these oral histories may be partially or even generally true, it’s impossible to be sure of the details. Now, we do have some written European records of Shaka Zulu’s life, but they’re not any more reliable. The European accounts suffer from intense racial and cultural biases which are evident throughout the text. To make matters worse, the historicity of the written accounts is further degraded by the writers’ motivations, among which are Christianization, colonization, and profit. All of this to say, the biography of Shaka Zulu is complex and frankly, impossible to validate – but it’s all we have. And despite the blurry line between fact and fiction when it comes to Shaka Zulu, he’s still an integral part of African history. So with all of that out of the way, let’s learn about Shaka Zulu.
Vesna Vulovic
“Vesna Vulovic, Stewardess Who Survived 33,000ft Fall, Dies.” British Broadcasting Corporation.
Dan Bilefsky. “Serbia’s Most Famous Survivor Fears That Recent History Will Repeat Itself.” The New York Times.
“Vesna Vulović: How to Survive a Bombing at 3300 Feet.” Green Light. (Interview)
In January of 1972, Vesna Vulovic was called into her job as a flight attendant for, and despite the fact that she wasn’t scheduled to work, Vesna decided to go in anyway. It was a decision that would forever change her life.
Vesna’s first flight took her to Denmark, where the Yugoslav Airlines crew stayed overnight as they waited for their next scheduled plane. The next day, Vesna and the rest of the crew boarded their flight to Belgrade. That’s the last thing Vesna remembers. Everything we know from this point comes from eyewitnesses and government investigation. About an hour into the flight, Vesna was walking through the Yugoslav Airlines cabin when a briefcase in the luggage hold exploded, tearing the plane apart. People were immediately sucked from the cabin as the pieces of the jetliner plunged towards the earth, but Vesna was pinned into place by a loose food cart. As the cabin of the plane tore through trees and snow banks, the force of the crash fractured Vesna’s skull and pelvis and crushed several of her vertebrae. But against all odds, Vesna was still alive after free falling over 33,000 feet. Although Vesna’s injuries left her paralyzed, she eventually regained the ability to walk and lived a relatively normal life. She continued to love flying and went on to be both “happily married” and later “happily divorced” before passing away in 2016.
Mamie Till Mobley: 2022 Redux
Authors of American Experience. “The Murder of Emmett Till: Mamie Till Mobley.” Public Broadcasting Service.
New York Historical Society. “Life Story: Mamie Till-Mobley.” Women and the American Story.
Brown, DeNeen L. “Emmett Till’s Mother Opened His Casket and Sparked the Civil Rights Movement.” Washington Post.
Mamie Till is one of the strongest women who ever lived, but we hardly ever talk about her. Let’s change that. Mamie Carthan graduated at the top of her high school class in the mid-1900s and went on to marry Louis Till shortly after. They had a happy, healthy son named Emmet, but Louis turned violent. In a feat of independence for the time, Mamie separated from her abusive husband and raised Emmet by herself. But she didn’t know that in August 1955, her motherhood would come to a sudden end. Emmet had left Chicago for the summer to visit some of his relatives in Mississippi, and he was walking through town and visiting the local shops with his friends when a White cashier accused Emmet of flirting with her. By next morning, the 14-year-old Emmet had been kidnapped and brutally murdered by White vigilantes for his alleged crime against the racial order. However, rather than imploding with grief, Mamie Till remained strong and decided that the whole world needed to see what racism had done to her son. She held an open-casket funeral for Emmet, putting his beaten body on display. Emmet’s swollen face was printed in newspapers across the country, showcasing the brutality of racism in the United States and demonstrating to many Americans the immediate need for change. By the next year, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing.
Henrietta Lacks
William Park. “The Young Woman Who Saved Millions of Lives Without Knowing.” British Broadcasting Corporation.
“Henrietta Lacks.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
Henrietta Lacks helped create treatments and cures for smallpox, measles, cervical cancer, leukemia, paralysis and more - and she did it all from the grave. You see, Henrietta was only 31 years old when she died of cervical cancer in 1951, but just months before she died, a doctor took a sample of the tumor which eventually killed her. This sample, just a small clump of cells, was studied by a researcher at John Hopkins who discovered the unthinkable - Henrietta’s cells were immortal. Unlike normal human cells, which die very quickly, Henrietta’s just kept reproducing - and they’ve continued dividing ever since. Henrietta’s immortal cells have allowed researchers to study a variety of theories and medications on genetically identical cells - an important step before moving on to human trials. As a result, these companies have been able to profit from Henrietta’s cells without ever compensating the Lacks family, and it wasn’t until recently that Henrietta began to receive the recognition she deserves.
Queen Nzinga
“Njinga Mbandi.” Unesco.
Jessica Snethen. “Queen Nzinga.” Blackpast.
Alexander Ives Bortolot. “Women Leaders in African History: Ana Nzinga, Queen of Ndongo.” The Met Museum.
Have you learned about this incredible African warrior queen? Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba was born in 1583 and grew up as a warrior princess in modern-day Angola, Africa. But conflict came when the Portuguese began kidnapping Ndongo people to be sold into slavery. Despite the efforts of her father, the king, another African tribe began helping to enslave Ndongo people for the Portuguese in an effort to steal their land. To make matters worse, some Ndongo leaders began selling their own people into slavery. When Nzinga’s father died, her paranoid brother took the throne and exiled her, believing she was a threat to his rule, but in just a few years, begged her to return as he was overrun by Portuguese invaders. Nzinga came back to Ndongo and negotiated with the Portuguese, bringing peace and an end to the kidnapping of her people. In shame, her brother ended his own life, leaving Nzinga the queen. However, the Portuguese soon went back on their word and began invading and kidnapping once again. In the years that followed, Nzinga went to war with the Portuguese, allied with the Dutch, expanded her kingdom, and eventually, removed the Portuguese and their slave trade from her kingdom. For the rest of her reign, she remained an adept ruler, elevated the rights of women, and even took in refugees from the slave trade before passing away at the age of 79.
Mansa Musa
Thad Morgan. “This 14th-Century African Emperor Remains the Richest Person in History.” History.com.
“Mūsā I of Mali.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
You may never be as rich as Mansa Musa, but you should still learn about this incredible African king. Mansa Musa ruled the kingdom of Mali in the early 1300s (CE), and during his reign, Mali became an important center of trade and learning in the Islamic world. It was due to this trade that under Mansa Musa’s reign, Mali became the richest country in Africa - and he became one of the richest people in the world. In fact, Mansa Musa’s wealth was so extreme that when he made the hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca as part of his Muslim faith, Mansa Musa gave away so much gold in Egypt that he destabilized the local price of gold for over a decade. After his return from Mecca, Mansa Musa continued to elevate Mali, building mosques, public buildings, and universities to serve his subjects and establish a strong Malian culture.
John R. Fox
Cory M. Ackerson. “‘I Did Not Send For You’ - John Fox and the Medal of Honor.” National Medal of Honor Museum.
Frank Viviano. “Almost-Forgotten Heroes / Italian Town Honors Black GIs Who Were Shunned by Their Own Country.” San Francisco Chronicle.
“Fox, John.” Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
Lieutenant John R. Fox was one of the most incredible soldiers of the Second World War, but hardly anyone knows his story. Let’s change that. After graduating from university with a degree in engineering, John enlisted into the U.S. Army, where he was placed in a segregated unit. While on the front lines in Italy, his battalion was attacked by Axis soldiers, forcing a retreat. However, Lieutenant Fox volunteered to stay behind with a small party while the battalion regrouped outside the city. However, Fox was soon surrounded by the Axis soldiers - but in that moment, the Lieutenant realized he could still defeat them. Fox radioed his battalion commander and gave the coordinates for an artillery attack: his own position. The commander protested, saying that Fox would be killed, but Fox responded, “Fire it! There’s more of them than there are of us. Give them hell!” Fox’s sacrifice caused enough damage to the Axis forces that their attack was delayed, giving the Americans enough time to reorganize and retake the city.
More than 50 years after his death in combat, Lieutenant John Fox, along with 6 other Black soldiers, were finally awarded the Medal of Honor. When Fox’s widow, Arlene, received his Medal of Honor, she said “We never needed any medals. John just felt that we were as good as anybody else, and he was going to prove it, and he did.”
Percy Julian
“Percy Julian.” Biography.com.
“Percy Lavon Julian.” Science History Institute.
“Percy L. Julian and the Synthesis of Physostigmine.” American Chemical Society.
Despite the many challenges Percy Julian faced due to his race, he made discoveries which changed humanity for the better and is now known as one of the most influential chemists in American history. Percy was born in the segregated city of Montgomery, Alabama in 1899, where he was schooled through the eighth grade. However, he wasn’t allowed to attend high school as there were no high schools for African Americans in the area. Undeterred, Percy moved to Indiana and began his undergraduate degree at DePauw University, later graduating first in his class. Percy Julian went on to earn a master’s degree at Harvard and his doctorate at the University of Vienna in Austria, after which he returned to DePauw as a professor and research fellow. Despite the fact that he synthesized an affordable drug to treat glaucoma, the DePauw board of trustees denied him a full professorship because of his race. It was at this time that Percy decided to leave academia and enter the corporate world of chemistry. Through the rest of his life, Percy synthesized progesterone, testosterone, and cortisone, all of which have been used for medical advancements like the creation of hormonal birth control and the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Even after he was denied opportunity in education, even after he was denied jobs, and even after his home was firebombed and later dynamited, Percy Julian remained resolute and he succeeded, becoming one of the United States’ first Black millionaires before his death in 1975.
Garrett Morgan
Leo DeLuca. “Black Inventor Garrett Morgan Saved Countless Lives with Gas Mask and Improved Traffic Lights.” Scientific American.
Carla Garner. “Garrett A. Morgan, Sr. (CA. 1877-1963).” BlackPast.
“Morgan, Garrett A.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University.
“Garrett Augustus Morgan.” Who Made America, PBS.
“Garrett Morgan.” Biography.com.
You probably learned about Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla in school, but what about Garrett Morgan? Garret Augustus Morgan, who billed himself as the “Black Edison,” was a prolific inventor in the early 20th century. Although he invented the first versions of lifesaving tools like the three-position traffic light and the modern gas mask, we often don’t hear about him because of his race - which was also a problem during his lifetime. In fact, the prevailing bigotry of the early 1900s made it so difficult to sell his safety hood that he had to resort to a rather… theatrical plan. To demonstrate the effectiveness of his product, Garrett would disguise himself as a Native American and have a White employee pose as the inventor. Garrett would then don the hood and enter a smoke-filled teepee for nearly half an hour before coming out unharmed. The Safety Hood was most famously used in the Cleveland Tunnel Explosion, where Morgan personally used it to save several men after initial rescue attempts had failed. Despite his life-saving actions, Morgan wasn't recognized by the city or the media like the White rescuers. Although he never really received recognition for the lives saved with his smoke hood, he was recognized by the U.S government for his traffic light, which saved numerous lives, just before he died in 1963. In 2005, Morgan was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and he remains an inspiration to inventors around the country today.
John Brown
Virginia Historical Society. “The John Brown Letters. Found in the Virginia State Library in 1901.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, April 1902, Vol. 9, No. 4.
“John Brown.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
“Bleeding Kansas.” Africans in America, from the Public Broadcasting Service.
Paul Finkleman. “A Look Back at John Brown.” Prologue Magazine, the National Archives.
“‘John Brown’s Raid.” U.S. National Parks Service.
Many Americans are taught that John Brown was an insane terrorist. But who was he before his history was rewritten? John Brown was born in May of 1800 to “poor but respectable” parents and grew up in a staunchly anti-slavery family and community. He was generally well-liked despite his many failed business ventures and, in many ways, was just an average man. But in May of 1856, he entered the history books.
While living in Kansas, Brown participated in the violent conflict that became known as “Bleeding Kansas,” brutally interrogating and killing 5 pro-slavery men in retaliation for their alleged raid of an anti-slavery town. Four years later, he attempted to initiate a slave revolt in Virginia. Although only 18 people showed up, he successfully took the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, killing 6 people in the process. Although he was defeated, captured, and quickly executed by the state, John Brown, motivated by a religious passion for destroying the institution of slavery, had become the nightmare of southern slaveholders by organizing a revolution, however small. As the historian Paul Finkelman said, “ he was the embodiment of [southern] fears—a white man willing to die to end slavery…” Of course southerners viewed Brown as a terrorist - he threatened to destroy their very way of life! But his actions themselves were not terroristic. Brutal and poorly executed? Absolutely. But in the end, it was his beliefs, not his actions, that cause many Americans to see Brown as a terrorist - because he was the zealous exception: a white man willing to die solely to end the oppression of others. And that threat to the status quo was a terror to those in power.
Mamie Till Mobley
Authors of American Experience. “The Murder of Emmett Till: Mamie Till Mobley.” Public Broadcasting Service.
New York Historical Society. “Life Story: Mamie Till-Mobley.” Women and the American Story.
Brown, DeNeen L. “Emmett Till’s Mother Opened His Casket and Sparked the Civil Rights Movement.” Washington Post.
Mamie Till is one of the strongest women who ever lived, but we hardly ever talk about her. Let’s change that. Mamie Carthan graduated at the top of her high school class in the mid-1900s and went on to marry Louis Till shortly after. They had a happy, healthy son named Emmet, but Louis turned violent. In a feat of independence for the time, Mamie separated from her abusive husband and raised Emmet by herself. She didn’t know that in August 1955, her motherhood would come to a sudden end. A white cashier accused Emmet of flirting with her, and by the next morning, the 14-year-old Emmet had been kidnapped and brutally murdered by white vigilantes for his alleged crime against the racial order. However, rather than imploding with grief, Mamie Till remained strong and decided that the whole world needed to see what racism had done to her son. She held an open-casket funeral for Emmet, putting his beaten body on display. Emmet’s swollen face was printed in newspapers across the country, showcasing the brutality of racism in the United States and demonstrating to many Americans the immediate need for change. By the next year, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing.
Hans Sharff
Del Quentin Wilber. “FBI Gets an Unexpected Lesson from a Former Interrogator for the Nazis.” Los Angeles Times.
Myrna Oliver. “Hanns Scharff; Creator of L.A., State Capitol Mosaics.” Los Angeles Times.
“Interrogation: A Review of the Science.” Federal Bureau of Investigation.
How did art by a Nazi officer end up in the happiest place on earth? Hanns Scharff of Poland had studied art in Germany as a young man and he was visiting with his wife when WWII broke out in 1939. He was soon drafted into the German army as a translator and was eventually promoted to interrogation officer, where he became rather famous for his interrogation techniques. Scharff never hurt a single prisoner - instead, his secret was to be as warm and kind as possible. He would take prisoners on unguarded walks, share beers, and bake them treats. And this practice of making prisoners feel safe worked so well that his techniques were later incorporated into the United States’ own interrogation methods. After the war, Scharff moved to the US and reconnected with his artistic roots, starting a business creating mosaics and furniture with his daughter, Monika. Hann and Monika would go on to create mosaic art for the California state capitol, Dixie College, The University of Southern California, and, yes, Disney World.
Charles Joughin
“Testimony of Charles Joughin.” British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, Day 6. Titanic Inquiry Project.
“The Story of Charles Joughin.” Stories from the Titanic. National Archives of the United Kingdom.
Imagine being so drunk that you’re able to survive swimming in icy water for hours in the middle of the night. Well that’s what allegedly happened to the chief baker on the Titanic when it.. well - Titanicked. It was a clear and cold evening on April 14, 1912 when the Titanic struck an iceberg. As the ship began to sink, the Titanic’s chief baker, Charles Joughin, went to his assigned lifeboat which he heroically filled with so many women and children that there wasn’t any space for himself. Resigned to his fate aboard a sinking ship, Joughin went to his room and had a “drop of liqueur.” Apparently though, he got drunk enough to change his mind about going down with the ship, because about thirty minutes later he was throwing wooden deckchairs overboard to create a makeshift raft. Joughin's plan was working flawlessly until the Titanic broke in half. But rather than panicking and jumping overboard, he calmly held onto the ship as it sank, riding it down like an elevator toward the ocean, where he spent the next two hours in the freezing water. Although the temperature of the water should have killed him, he somehow survived until he was rescued and suffered no long term effects! In fact, he went on to serve as chief baker on three more ships before retiring.