At its height, what was the slave population in the U.S.?
In the year 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, which was the height of slavery, the slave population in the U.S. was 3,953,760.
Yarn was produced at the first American factory. It was produced at Samuel Slater’s Mill, founded in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1790. Workers at the spinning machines lived in company housing and worked for wages paid in credit at the company store. Cloth itself was not produced at the mill: The yarn was woven into…
John Hancock’s (1737-93) most distinctive contribution to the rebel cause was money which earned him a place as president of the Continental Congress. Hancock was a merchant who had inherited a fortune from a smuggler uncle. He used his wealth to help finance the revolution. He is best remembered now for his flamboyant signature on…
The slogan “Africa for the Africans at home and abroad” was made famous by Jamaica-born black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), who came to New York in 1916. Garvey built a mass movement calling for an end to oppression of blacks in Africa and the United States. Convicted of mail fraud (a charge he denied),…
The most destructive hurricane in U.S. history, Andrew’s winds reached speeds of 175 miles per hour as they gusted into Dade County, Florida, on August 24, 1992. South-central Louisiana was hit by 120 mile-per-hour winds two days later. The hurricane killed 38 people and caused billions of dollars in losses.
Dick Beals, himself only four-and-a-half feet tall, did the voice of the singing animated Alka-Seltzer puppet in over 200 TV commercials from 1954 to 1964. Speedy, who had an Alka-Seltzer tablet for a hat and another for his torso, was designed by Robert Watkins for Wade Advertising of Chicago.
In 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. for $5 million. In addition, Spain gave up its claim to the Oregon Territory while the U.S. recognized that Texas belonged to Spain. Within three decades, in 1845, the U.S. had annexed Texas too.