Category: Learn History Through Fiction

Ratification of the 18th Amendment, which instituted Prohibition (1919-1933), was supported by many proponents of temperance, including religious fundamentalists and women battling domestic violence. But anti-immigrant racism was also a major factor, fueled by the so-called second Ku Klux Klan, which warned against the “foreign invasion of undeveloped races” whose members, stereotyped as saloon-drinking brawlers, “threatened the white Protestant American way of life.” Catholics, African-Americans, and Jews (who ironically rarely drank outside the home) were major targets of anti-drinking crusades, which often turned violent. The reign of terror drove many working-class families toward the Democratic Party, which opposed Prohibition. The legislation also gave the U.S. government an unprecedented role in law enforcement, which continues to this day. Read more about this era and anti-immigrant discrimination in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

One hundred years ago today (January 15, 1919), the Great Molasses Flood devastated Boston’s North End. By midday, the temperature had soared to 40 degrees after having dropped to 2 degrees earlier in the week. Rivets of a 50-foot molasses storage tank, owned by U.S. Industrial Alcohol, began to shoot into the air, followed by a roaring sound as 2.3 million gallons of molasses, a dark tidal wave 25 feet high by 160 feet wide and weighing 26 million pounds, flooded the busy waterfront neighborhood at 35 mph (belying the expression “slow as molasses”), killing 21 people, aged 10 to 78. The explosion should not have come as a surprise. The previous summer, one of the hottest on record, nearby residents noticed drips running down the tank’s walls. The owners reacted by painting the outside rust-brown, the color of molasses, to hide the leaks. Despite trying to place the blame on anarchists, the company was held responsible and fined the equivalent of $15 million in today’s dollars. Researchers later concluded that among the tank’s many design flaws, the walls were too thin. The foreman in charge of the project had no technical training and couldn’t even read blueprints. In response to this disaster, the Boston Building Department thereafter required detailed calculations and expert review before approving building permits. Many other municipalities followed. Read about how other fatal industrial accidents in the early 1900s led to construction and occupational reforms in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

In some ways, life in the village of Loro Piceno, on the east coast of central Italy, hasn’t changed in over 100 years. You get samples of homemade Vino Cotto (literally cooked wine), wherever you go. Butchers still make ciauscolo, the Italian salami typical of Marche. Musicians serenade guests with instruments made of sticks and bones. Read more about this idyllic Italian village a century ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Researching a story on the activism of female circus performers in the suffragette movement, I learned about the history of women and tattoos. At the height of its popularity in the mid-19th century, the circus was one of the few places where women could earn an independent living as sideshow performers. They took advantage of the public’s fascination with body art to tattoo themselves. Ink also became an expression of independence for Victorian women outside the circus, particularly socialites who used it as a form of rebellion. Required by custom to keep their bodies covered, they brought tattoo artists into their homes to ink them in places that could be hidden. Even royals got in on the act. Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston’s mother, had a snake tattoo on her wrist, handily covered by a lace-trimmed sleeve or camouflaged by a bracelet. By the turn of the 20th century, three-quarters of New York City’s society ladies had adopted the fashion, favoring tattoos of butterflies, flowers, and dragons. You could say the first edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves was written on women’s skin. Discover more facts unearthed while researching the reality behind fiction in BEHIND THE STORY.

Revelers have gathered in Times Square on New Year’s Eve since 1904, when Adolph Ochs, son of immigrants and owner of The New York Times, organized a celebration for the opening of the newspaper’s new headquarters. (Ochs also lobbied to change the name of the erstwhile Longacre Square.) However, the first ball drop wasn’t until 1907. That ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. It was built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, whose sign company, Artkraft Strauss, was responsible for lowering the ball for most of the 20th century. Read more about New York City history during this era and the vital role of immigrants in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Eighty-six years ago today, on December 27, 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened during the height of the Great Depression. The brain child of billionaire John D. Rockefeller, the Art Deco theater in a formerly derelict area of midtown Manhattan, was designed as a “people’s palace.” The 100-foot long stage is most famous for showcasing the Rockettes, synchronized high-kicking dancers, who debuted in 1933. Their annual Christmas show draws more than a million visitors each year. Read more about New York City and 1930s culture in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

1970 was an active year in the divisive anti-Vietnam War movement. However, other events remind us that we could agree on important issues. For example: several million viewed a solar eclipse visible all along the Atlantic (03/07/70); President Nixon signed a law banning cigarette advertising on TV (04/01/70); the first Earth Day was celebrated (04/22/70) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began operations (12/02/70). Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, on a visit to Poland, German Chancellor Willy Brandt went down on his knees before a monument to victims of the Warsaw Ghetto (12/07/70). Read more about 1970s culture in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS ).

Nativity scenes typically depict Mary and Joseph, baby Jesus, the three magi, an angel, and perhaps a shepherd boy and his flock. Missing is the midwife who almost certainly would have delivered the child (and could have attested to Mary’s virginity). Midwives play a prominent role in Jewish scripture and have been around for thousands of years. The mother of Socrates was a midwife, midwives appear in Roman frescoes, midwives assisted at royal births in Europe, and African slaves brought their midwifery skills to America. Until the 1920s, 70% of births occurred at home attended by midwives. Although most deliveries later took place in hospitals, midwives are gaining in popularity today, with 12,000 in the U.S. and 27 million worldwide. Read more about midwifery 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).