What was the first major export industry in America?
Tobacco was the first major export industry in America.
By 1617, 50,000 pounds of the Virginia-grown crop were exported to England.
Wendell Holmes never served as chief justice of the Supreme Court. He was an associate justice from 1902 to 1932, during the terms of four different chief justices.
Seven members serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, founded in 1913. All are appointed to 14-year terms by the president. The Federal Reserve System, which includes all national banks and many state banks, helps to maintain the country’s economic health through such means as fixing reserve deposit requirements and establishing…
Emma Lazarus (1849-87), a New York Jewish poet, wrote the poem “The New Colossus” with its words, “Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It was written in honor of the planned Statue of Liberty in 1883, but the poem was not part of the statue when it was…
Andy Warhol’s real name was Andy Warhola (1928-87). Born in Pennsylvania, the painter, graphic artist, and filmmaker was best known for incorporating images from mass culture (such as Marilyn Monroe and Coca-Cola bottles) in the style known as Pop Art. The stenciled pictures of Campbell’s soup cans brought Warhol his first brush with fame in…
In 1846, the 29-year-old Henry David Thoreau was charged with nonpayment of a poll tax. Thoreau refused to pay because the tax was to be spent on the Mexican War, which he opposed. Thoreau’s friends paid the tax for him, after he spent the night of July 23, 1846, in jail. He described the experience…
Theodore Roosevelt, who invited Booker T. Washington, was the first president to invite an African-American man to the White House.