Historical Ideas Thanksgiving

First, when the Mayflower sailed in 1620 the Pilgrims had cause to pray for safe passage without interception by Algerian Corsairs, also known as Barbary Coast Pirates. The Algerian pirates were known for slave trading in white European Christians. Second, the Plymouth pilgrims lost the first shipload of goods they sent back to repay their [...]

Tags: algerian pirates, pirates in history, thanksgiving fun facts, thanksgiving trivia, the barbary coast pirates, the pirates history
Posted September 3, 2009 by Admin under Fun Facts

Americans have a long-held disdain for history study; and it’s no wonder. The overwhelming consensus that “history is boring and irrelevant” stems from generations of dry, white-washed, socially “safe” K-12 history textbooks. Plain and simple. The sad part is, real history is always better than fiction. Just go a little deeper than the surface appearance [...]

Tags: better than fiction, history is boring, thanksgiving fun facts, thanksgiving trivia
Posted September 3, 2009 by Admin under Fun Facts

Plymouth was not, and is not our second surviving European colony. And Jamestown was not, and is not the first. The earliest surviving colonies on present day American soil are those of the Spanish. We simply celebrate the English colonies because the winners of war write the history they want their children to remember. Tags: [...]

Tags: 13 original colonies of, facts 13 colonies, history of colonies, original thirteen colonies, thanksgiving fun facts, thanksgiving trivia
Posted September 3, 2009 by Admin under Fun Facts

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, which ran from 1883 to 1913, was the widely known, and hugely influential precursor to Hollywood. It was Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows that unintentionally seared the Plains Indian stereotypes into the American mind. Namely, Euro-America, which was in this time period all but separated from Indian contact through reservation [...]

Tags: buffalo bill's show, buffalo bill's wild west show, national thanksgiving holiday, native stereotypes, thanksgiving fun facts, thanksgiving trivia
Posted September 3, 2009 by Admin under Fun Facts

The Pequot Indians were annihilated to the brink of extinction by the English during the attack of 1637. The war started when a Pequot leader was taken for ransom and murdered by a notorious Dutch slaver and privateer, John Stone. His actions set off a string of events that ended badly for the Pequot. After [...]

Tags: history in new england, pequot massacre, pequot tribe, thanksgiving trivia, the pequot
Posted September 3, 2009 by Admin under Fun Facts

Over time Mayflower Pilgrim Edward Winslow, and Ousamequin the Massasoit (Grand Leader) of the ally Wampanoag Indians, became sincere friends. Unfortunately the next generation would not share this hard-won affection. Edward Winslow’s son, Josiah Winslow, who served as governor in Plymouth from 1673-1680, chose a course of domination, rather than respectful diplomacy, in his dealings [...]

Tags: history in new england, king phillips war, thanksgiving fun facts, thanksgiving trivia
Posted September 3, 2009 by Admin under Fun Facts

The little side-kick ship that was supposed to cross over with the Mayflower in 1621 was called the Speedwell. The Speedwell was originally meant to be the backup escape plan for the Pilgrims in case they decided New England was too much, and they wanted to return home. Unfortunately she was refitted with too large [...]

Tags: speedwell history, thanksgiving fun facts, thanksgiving trivia, the speedwell
Posted September 3, 2009 by Admin under Fun Facts