The most famous postage stamp error in history happened 100 years ago today. You may have seen the Inverted Jenny joked about on The Simpsons or in movies, but the stamp with the upside-down biplane is actually a real thing. Several things, in fact, as a sheet of 100 misprints got distributed throughout the world at […]
The Inverted Jenny Turns 100 Read More
In biblical times, the Kingdom of Axum was known as the home of the brilliant, dark, and lovely Queen of Sheba and the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, which held the tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. Axum, which also went by the name Ethiopia as early as the
Sixty years ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down racial segregation in American public schools. “[S]eperate educational facilities are inherently unequal” wrote the court. The case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, set the stage for the dismantling of legal segregation, culminating a decade later in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
60 Years After Brown, 20 Years After Apartheid Read More
In Brazil, “the delineation between black and white is blurred, with the overwhelming majority somewhere in the middle. But white remains the color of aspiration, and black the color of a history that some would prefer to forget.” In continued recognition of Black Consciousness Month in Brazil, I’d like you to take a quick 45
Black Consciousness Month in Brazil: An Inconvenient History Read More
Black Americans have actively participated in every war and military skirmish since the United States was first conceived, even as a colony. But it was during the Spanish-American War in 1898 that black soldiers first had the opportunity to leave their own reluctant country for another – in this case, Cuba. Until that time, scant
War and Travel, Unlikely Allies Read More
Inaugurated in 1960 as Brazil’s brand-spanking-new capital, Brasília was built on a high, semi-arid plateau in the mid-western region of the country to bring money and people into the vast and empty interior. The city has certainly filled-out since these images were filmed, but it’s interesting to see life in my retro-futuristic home base during
From the AV Room: Baby Brasília Read More
A native of my own hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, James Weldon Johnson was the son of an educator, who would later become an educator in his own right, in addition to being a diplomat, poet, novelist, lyricist, and civil rights activist. At only 24, Johnson became a high school principal and founded a newspaper, before
Fly Original: James Weldon Johnson Read More
