A Brief History On July 16, 1862 and July 16, 1882, we commemorate the birthdays of 2 significant African-American women, Ida B. Wells (who first developed statistics on lynching in the US) and Violette Neatley Anderson (the first African-American woman to practice law before the United States Supreme Court). In honor of these historic Black American Women, today we choose to highlight the accomplishments of Seven Great Black American Men, people that young Americans can look up to, especially African-American youths. The order listed has no significance. Digging Deeper 7. Booker T. Washington. A multi-faceted man as an educator, author,…
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A Brief History On July 16, 1945, Manhattan Project scientists held their breath as the clock ticked down to the first man-made nuclear blast in history. Digging Deeper Over a period of almost six years from its feeble first steps (3 years as a project in earnest), through 130,000 people working on the project and $2 billion taxpayer dollars the finest scientists in the world had developed methods of enriching uranium to a state where its nucleus could be split and creating plutonium, the two materials needed for the two different types of atomic weapons being considered. The uranium device would be…
A Brief History On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This spacecraft would take 3 American astronauts to the Moon, landing 2 on its surface and return all 3 safely to Earth, less than a decade after the first manned space flight. The US and Americans have achieved many great things, and here we list 10 of them. Not all significant inventions or achievements are necessarily for humanitarian purposes, some of them are for war. Some, like DDT and the polio vaccines saved millions of lives. We list 10 that we think you…
A Brief History On July 16, 1862, David Farragut was appointed a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, the first officer to hold that rank. Being a 2 ocean nation, the US has needed a great 2 ocean Navy to protect the country and look after our interests. Along the way, many great sailors and others have furthered the capabilities of the US Navy and added to its rich history. Here we list 10 of those examples, of the hundreds or even thousands that could be listed (no significance to the order listed). ( Note: Although the US Marine…
A Brief History On July 15, 1954, the first prototype of what became the Boeing 707 and US Air Force C-135 family of airplanes made its first flight. Many airplanes have served a dual role well, moving cargo and people for civilian purposes or the same for the military. Sometimes a military airplane might be an ideal test aircraft for scientific purposes, or as a weather observing plane. Here we list 10 of these airplanes that have done double duty, and of course there are many more. Digging Deeper 10. Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny.” The most widely produced North American airplane…