Browsing: February 25

A Brief History On February 25, 1933, the USS Ranger was launched at Newport News, Virginia, as the first American aircraft carrier built for the purpose of carrying aircraft.  Smaller than later aircraft carrier types, Ranger nonetheless operated effectively throughout World War II, providing important naval air power, mostly in the Atlantic. Digging Deeper The fourth US ship designated as an aircraft carrier, Ranger followed ships converted from a collier and the unfinished hulls of two battlecruisers.  Lexington and Saratoga were more than 100 feet longer than Ranger, and Langley much smaller. Ranger was impressive for its day, 769 feet…

A Brief History On February 25, 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, was sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress.  Over 150 years later, on February 25, 2023, a collaboration of several history YouTubers attempts to help promote and uplift the history black people in the United States and diaspora as well as their ancestors both in and out of Africa.  Rather than the usual narrative that is taught in the American school system which largely focuses on the topic of oppression and subsequent freedom against this oppression, the aim…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on February 25th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On February 25, 1336, the 4,000 defenders of the medieval Lithuanian fortress of Pilénai thought they had no other choice but to make the horrible decision to kill themselves and their families after torching and destroying everything they had of value to deny their Teutonic besiegers the spoils of victory and the opportunity to kill or enslave them. On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt of Hartford Connecticut…

A Brief History On February 25, 1870, history was made when Hiram Rhodes Revels, an African American man from Mississippi, was sworn in as a US Senator, the first African American member of the US Congress. Digging Deeper Despite being born in North Carolina in 1827, Revels was not born a slave, and later lived in Indiana and Ohio.  The son of a Baptist minister, Revels was educated in Quaker seminaries and at Knox College, in Illinois, later being ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Revels served in the US Army during the American Civil War as a chaplain,…

A Brief History On February 25, 1968, South Korean Marines fighting against the communist Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army alongside Americans and the South Vietnamese committed a terrible atrocity in the town of Hà My in South Vietnam.  Sadly, in virtually any war that can be researched, atrocities are almost sure to be found committed by both sides in the conflict. Digging Deeper The South Korean Marines, renowned for their toughness, had suffered a mortar attack in which an officer, an NCO, and 4 troops had been killed.  The direction the mortar fire came from was deemed to be…