“Francis, Francis, Francis!” Watch great footage shotof Pope Francis leaving the Vatican embassy on his way to say mass on September 23, 2015. The adoring crowds chanted: “Francis, Francis, Francis!” as the joyfully shook hands. The Pope had arrived in DC the night before from Cuba, marking his first ever … Continue reading
“The biggest non-nuclear explosion since World War II” To many, the Beirut bombing in 1983 signaled a chance in terrorism for the U.S. and the rest of the world. Sgt. Stephen Russell emotionally recalls his story of surviving the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. … Continue reading
Amelia Boynton Robinson describes how the Selma March came to together and what compelled her to get involved. She was fighting for her right to vote. Dr. Martin Luther King inspired by her treatment and then Jimmy Lee Johnson was killed. “We are going to march from Montgomery to Selma…” … Continue reading
“… But whatever may be the circumstances of my death I shall die with unshaken faith in the communist future.” In poor health and fearing he would be assassinated, Leon Trotsky wrote his final thoughts and feelings on February 27, 1940. The document became known as “Trotsky’s Testament.” At the … Continue reading
Leon Trotsky, Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army lived the last years of his life in Mexico. While there, he wrote prolifically and lived, for a time, in the Coyoacán area of Mexico City at the home (The Blue House) … Continue reading
On November 29, 1864, Captain Soule and his company were with the regiment at Sand Creek, Colorado. A fellow abolitionist, Colonel John Chivington ordered the cavalry to attack Black Kettle’s encampment of Cheyenne and Arapaho there. Soule saw that the Cheyenne were flying the Union flag as a sign of … Continue reading
“Jis to think of that dog Chivington and his dirty hounds, up thar at Sand Creek. His men shot down squaws, and blew the brains out of little innocent children. You call sich soldiers Christians, do ye? And Indians savages? What der yer ‘spose our Heavenly Father, who made both … Continue reading
Bill Means, a Lakota member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), which advocates for the rights of American Indians, discusses the events that led to AIM’s takeover and 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota. The complex event that lead to the Wounded … Continue reading
Rep. Charles Rangel discusses the importance of the Hotel Theresa to the history of Harlem and New York City. He used to work there as a boy and says he learned more working poker games there than he did anywhere else. If someone wanted to make an impression in NY, … Continue reading
