United States
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East St. Louis Riots of 1917
The Great Migration saw great numbers of Southern African Americans who traveled north to find jobs and opportunities. One of the places that became a stopping point was the industrial city of East St. Louis. In Illinois across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, East St. Louis was booming due to increased production for World War I. The Aluminum Ore Company and American Steel Company were prominent among those hiring. However, tensions were running high as up to 2,000 people a week were arriving from the South. The rate was so high that Marcus Garvey actively tried to discourage migration to East St. Louis, but still people came. In February…
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The Great Balloon Hoax
No, I am not talking about that family who pretended their little boy was caught in a homemade balloon to get a reality show. This was perpetrated by none other than the great author, Edgar Allan Poe. (For more on him, please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/edgar-allan-poe-mystery-even-death/ ) Poe brought the New York Sun and exciting account of balloonist, Monck Mason. He claimed Mason was famous in Europe and had successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a mere seventy-five hours. This was done by using the first steam powered airship, invented by William Samuel Henson. Originally the journey was supposed to be between London and Paris, but was blown far off…
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Fight against “Yellow Jack”
In the early 19th century, the scourge of Yellow Fever was prevalent in the southern United States. It had originally come over from Africa with the slave trade. They called it “Yellow Jack” and it was relentless. The death toll was huge as outbreaks happened in the south and people fled north. Trains full of people trying to escape sickness were met at stations by armed men and forced to move on. These were called “shotgun quarantines”. No one knew how it spread. They burned bonfires to disrupt “miasmas” that they thought caused sickness. Patients were quarantined and doctors believed contact with sick people and anything contaminated with their…
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The Straw Hat Riots of 1922
People take their clothes very seriously. Ask any teenager trying to decide what to wear in the morning. We devote magazines to what to wear and more importantly what not wear. We make jokes about the fashion police. However, those involved in the Straw Hat Riots of 1922 took it to extremes. There was a strict tradition among men at the end of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th century about what was appropriate for the various seasons. Because of the lack of air conditioning and central heating, men’s wear changed over to lighter fabrics in the summer and heavier fabrics in the winter. Seersucker suits…
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Edith Wilson and the Secret Presidency
Woodrow Wilson was tired. He had been negotiating the Treaty of Versailles, planning for the League of Nations, campaigning for the US inclusion into said League of Nations and planned a speaking tour of the United States in support of this effort. He had suffered from a terrible bout with influenza in April 1919, and had not allowed himself the opportunity to rest. By September of the same year, Wilson was noticeably thinner and paler and his asthma was growing worse. He also complained of terrible headaches. Instead of taking the rest that he obviously needed, Wilson pushed on. On the evening of September 25, 1919, Wilson collapsed after speaking…
