On January 15, 1919, a poorly-constructed tank burst open and sent a 25-foot-high wave of molasses through Boston's North End, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.Ever heard the saying “slower than molasses”? Turns out it’s not true. Molasses can move pretty fast — a fact Boston residents learned the hard way nearly a century ago in what was one of the strangest disasters in American history.
Just after 12:30 p.m. on Jan. Read More...
Far from signifying the end of slavery and racism, the Civil War's finish only initiated a new wave of discrimination: Jim Crow.Mom and apple pie are like baseball and the Cuban blockade—traditional American institutions that define us as a people and give our history much of its unique look and feel. But America has other, less savory traditions, and one of the worst—sadly, not the worst—was segregation.
The name “Jim Crow” was first used for a stock character in depressingly popular minstrel shows from around 1830 to the 1940s. Read More...
From the Bowery Boys to the Dead Rabbits, meet the Five Points gangs that were the real-life gangs of New York in the 1800s. Bandit's Roost, an alleyway where gangsters and thugs would congregate. 1896.Jacob Riis/Wikimedia Commons "The Short Tail Gang," a violent group of thugs and one of the most feared of the Five Points gangs. Circa 1880-1890. A police report on the gang read: "The members of the gang are known to the police as hard drinkers, thieves, pickpockets and highwaymen. Read More...
