Category Archives: history
George Washington Williams, the Congo Genocide and “Crimes Against Humanity”
Political cartoon from 1906 showing King Leopold of Belgium entangling the Congolese in rubber coils So who coined the phrase “Crimes Against Humanity?” Was it first defined at Nuremberg by the victorious allies? Or was it used by someone … Continue reading
Suicide of a Senator – From the Archives – October 2015
For those of you who think right wing politics has never been so dirty. Senator Lester Hunt – Democrat – Wyoming This morning while enjoying a second cup of coffee and the company of song birds out on the lanai … Continue reading
Italy, Libya and Eritrea -From the History Archive
A poster from the Fascist era advertising the Tripoli Grand Prix in Italian Libya on March 7, 1933 -Year eleven of the Fascist dictatorship. Cost of a ticket? Lira 12 Muammar Gaddafi is dead since 2011 and Libya … Continue reading
Fascist Italy, Adowa and the Conquest of Abyssinia
From the History Archives – 2015 Most folks know of fascist Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia in the 1930’s. The conquering of Abyssinia was greeted in Rome with wild celebration culminating in Il Duce’s famous balcony speech from the Palazzo Venezia … Continue reading
Fifty Years Ago – May 4 – Kent and Jackson State
This Monday, May 4, marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State shootings involving the killing of 4 unarmed university students by the Ohio National Guard. It was a time when armed soldiers of the state shot down unarmed … Continue reading
Dancing in the Eye of the Storm – From the Archives – 2014
Tired of my old poetry? How about some history with pictures! Alexander Ulyanov – executed by Tsar Alexander III in 1887 Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 by an organization known as The People’s Will. Instead of hoped … Continue reading
“It Was the Best of Times – From the Archives
it was the worst of times.” Thus the opening line of Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” a historical novel set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor … Continue reading
A Felon for President – Eugene V. Debs – From the Archives
Eugene V. Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1855 to prosperous immigrant parents from Alsace, France. He attended public schools, dropping out at 14 to take a job on the Vandalia Railroad cleaning grease from freight engines for … Continue reading
Strange Fruit
Abel Meeropol and his sons Robert and Michael play with a train set. Once upon a time, when I was a young teen, the public high schools of New York City were the crown jewels of public education in America. … Continue reading
Immigration – The Great Depression and Fascism in New York
The great stock market crash of 1929 brought an abrupt end to the “roaring twenties” and brought us the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unemployment rates reached 25% and immigration, both legal and illegal plunged. It was the only time … Continue reading
