Author Archives
I have a PhD in United States History and I am a legal refugee. I run a history wiki called DailyHistory.org and the blog Dailyhistoryblog.com.
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The Deterioration of US/Japanese Relations at the turn of the 20th Century
In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the relationship between the United States and Japan was marked by increasing tension and corresponding attempts to use diplomacy to reduce the threat of conflict. Each side had territory and interests… Read More ›
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Death on the Kansas Prairie
From Nursing Clio’s true crime series Killing Clio by Michelle M. Martin With the close of the American Civil War, western states like Kansas teemed with travelers and refugees seeking opportunity and solace as shattered families worked to rebuild their… Read More ›
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Third Wave Feminism
Previous DailyHistory articles have discussed the First and Second Wave Feminist Movements. Like Second Wave feminism, Third Wave feminism emerged from some of the failures and conversations left behind from the wave before. While there were many successes of the first two waves, including… Read More ›
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Did the Volga German Colonies Vanish?
Germany and Russia have had a long relationship going back to the Medieval Period. During the thirteenth century, the Teutonic Knights conquered much of the Baltic region in order to Christianize the pagans but stayed for centuries well into the… Read More ›
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Robinson Crusoe – Historical person?
There are some literary characters that become part of the culture and have entered the popular imagination. A select few fictional personages have achieved great fame and even mythic status. One of these is Robinson Crusoe, the hero of an… Read More ›
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Playgrounds through the Years
The playground is something many of us consider intertwined with childhood playtime around many parts of the world. The idea of playgrounds developed in the mid-19th century, as people realized increasingly urban areas needed to create space for children to… Read More ›
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Anti-Lynching Legislation in US History
On October 26, 1921, President Warren G. Harding traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to participate in the city’s fiftieth-anniversary celebration. The Republican Harding, just seven months into his first term, was immensely popular. But the speech he gave that day was… Read More ›
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Do Civil Rights need the Supreme Court?
By Millington Bergeson-Lockwood 2018 was a tough year for civil rights advocates at the US Supreme Court. Often in close decisions, the court repeatedly narrowed the scope of civil rights protections for consumers, workers, voters, and immigrants. As if this… Read More ›
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How did the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 restrict immigration?
The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the… Read More ›
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The British and the American navies on the Great Lakes were eliminated. Why?
The Rush-Bagot Pact was an agreement between the United States and Great Britain to eliminate their fleets from the Great Lakes, excepting small patrol vessels. The Convention of 1818 set the boundary between the Missouri Territory in the United States… Read More ›
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The US Occupation from Haiti from 1915-1934
Following the assassination of the Haitian President in July of 1915, President Woodrow Wilson used that incident as a pretext to send the United States Marines into Haiti to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the Caribbean…. Read More ›
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The Mukden Incident and the Stimson Doctrine
In 1931, a dispute near the Chinese city of Mukden (Shenyang) precipitated events that led to the Japanese conquest of Manchuria. In response, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson issued what would become known as the Stimson Doctrine, stating that… Read More ›
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How much of Moby Dick was real?
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851) is not only one of the best known but most important works of fiction in United States history. While Melville’s book is undoubtedly fiction, he drew widely from his experiences as a whaler and some incredible stories… Read More ›
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The Importance of “Big Conferences” between the Allies during World War II
The first involvement of the United States in the wartime conferences between the Allied nations opposing the Axis powers actually occurred before the nation formally entered World War II. In August 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston… Read More ›
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The Importance of the Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization – also sometimes referred to as the “Harappan Civilization” for one of its primary cities – was one of the world’s first civilizations, along with Egypt and Mesopotamia. Beginning about 3200 BC, groups of people in… Read More ›
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Sherlock Holmes Comes to Paris: True Crime and Private Detection in the Belle Époque
What’s the appeal of true crime? There’s the mystery to solve and the lure of thinking about violence from a safe distance. There’s also the desire to see justice done: one of the staples of true crime is a botched… Read More ›
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The Evolution of American Foodie Culture
In June 1950, when English cooking writer Elizabeth David’s A Book of Mediterranean Food was published in London, British adults were still living under the war rationing system and were allowed only one fresh egg per week. Leaving stale bread for the… Read More ›
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The Forgotten Greatness of the City of Pergamon
The city of Pergamon, sometimes spelled Pergamum, was not only one of the greatest cities in the Hellenistic world, it was arguably one of the greatest cities of the entire ancient world. Located in the mountains a few miles in… Read More ›
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Gladiator’s Historical Accuracy
Gladiator was a film released in 2000 starring Russell Crowe that focused on General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who was enslaved after escaping his execution for not supporting the new Roman emperor Commodus (starring Joaquin Phoenix). Maximus rises as a well-skilled gladiator,… Read More ›
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The History of the Movie Peterloo
The movie Peterloo tells the story of a mass demonstration in Manchester in 1819, where British forces ultimately broke up the protest that was calling for increased democratic representation. The government forces killed many of the protesters, leading to the event to… Read More ›