Month: August 2012
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Remembering the Pioneer: Neil Armstrong
I’m enjoying a quite Sunday morning sipping a few mugs of well-prepared, freshly ground coffee. This follows an already satisfying early weekend and restful night. My mood, however, is rightfully tempered by yesterday’s passing of Neil Armstrong who was very much a part of my boyhood. Born in 1961, the year both the USSR and…
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The Reckoning of Nat Turner
Following his hanging, the body was beheaded and skinned by local physicians. Skinned. Nat Turner was executed on November 11, 1831. His death was intended to signal an end to further resistance by those held in bondage, however, Turner’s slave revolt served as a catalyst for debate over the viability of slavery and the disposition of…
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Least appreciated event in African-American history?
August 21, 1831 seldom receives much national publicity. The date seldom triggers responses from even ardent students of antebellum history the way April 15, June 6, and November 22 awakens the memories of U.S. History fans. Even among followers of African-Americans history and those who keep alive the messages from the long civil rights struggle,…