Stephen Collins Foster, who wrote the song “Swanee River” about the South (also called “Old Folks at Home”) in 1852, was born near Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, in 1826.
Daniel D. Emmett, the author of the 1859 song “Dixie” that became a Confederate anthem, was born in Ohio.
The tradition with writing autobiographies began with the nation’s second president, John Adams.
The five-month Homestead strike was begun in July 1892 by workers at Andrew Carnegie’s steelworks in Homestead, Pennsylvania. It began when Carnegie refused to recognize the workers’ right to negotiate as a union. Steelworks manager Henry Clay Frick brought in 300 Pinkerton guards to break the strike, but the workers drove them off in a…
Detroit is French for “the strait.” It refers to the strait formed by the Detroit River between Lake Erie and lake St. Clair. Originally founded as a French fort and trading post in 1701, Detroit was incorporated as a city in 1815.
Generations of fans and enemies of rock and roll have thought that it does, but in all probability it does not. The original song as written and recorded by Richard Berry in 1956 has tame lyrics about longing to see a certain girl while sailing across the Caribbean Sea. However, in the hit version by…
General Omar Bradley (1893-1981) earned the nickname “soldiers’ general” for his unassuming manner and his concern for the welfare of soldiers.
More Americans (19.6 percent) report German ancestry than any other. In second place is Irish ancestry (13.1 percent) and in third place English (11 percent).