A Brief History On an unknown date in 495 BC, one of the greatest  Athenian heroes of their “Golden Age” was born, Pericles, the man that came to be known as “The First Citizen of Athens.”  So important and influential was Pericles that his time as leader of Athens is called “The Age of Pericles” (461-429 BC). Digging Deeper Like many truly great men, Pericles was multi-dimensional, and served as a military general, statesman, and orator, as well as being a great patron of the arts and education.  A strong advocate of democracy, Pericles is responsible for most of the…

A Brief History Morgan, an upcoming 2016 American science fiction thriller film directed by Luke Scott and written by Seth Owen, is scheduled to be released on September 2, 2016 by 20th Century Fox. Digging Deeper Viewed on August 24, 2016 with only minimal knowledge of the movie (provided by the trailer), we expected a science fiction/horror type film and that is what we got. Excellent casting in every role and quality acting and directing, we enjoyed the movie quite a bit.  The build up to action was slightly slow, as is to be expected with character development, but once the…

A Brief History On September 1, 1985, after 73 years sleeping on the deep dark ocean floor, the wreck of the fabled ocean liner, RMS Titanic, was discovered by a joint American-French salvage team led by Robert Ballard, sponsored by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.  The mighty ship had sunk on its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg 375 miles South of Newfoundland on April 15, 1912 with the loss of more than 1500 passengers and crew, including the ship’s captain.  Not equipped with sufficient lifeboats for all on board, only about a third (705) of the 2224 people…

A Brief History On an unknown date around 638 BC one of the greatest of the Ancient Greeks was born in Athens into a modestly wealthy family of the noble class.   A Renaissance Man before there was such a thing, Solon had many facets and many talents.  Engaging in commerce and in military leadership, he became known for high intelligence and persuasive debate. Digging Deeper Eventually becoming a major reformer of Athenian society, Solon is often remembered as “The Lawgiver” for his wise legislation as Chief Magistrate of Athens starting around 594 BC.  During his time as autocrat of Athens,…

A Brief History On August 31, 1943, the Buckley Class destroyer, USS Harmon (DE-678) was commissioned, the first American Navy ship named after an African-American person.  The Harmon got its name from the heroic Leonard Roy Harmon, a Mess Attendant aboard the USS San Francisco in 1942. Digging Deeper Back in World War II there were limited specialties available to African-American sailors in the segregated armed forces of the United States, and for the most part African-American sailors were limited to service type positions.  Of course, on board a warship sailors have to have emergency duties assigned for combat, and…