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Introduction

Flag of the United States of America

The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.

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  An idealized depiction of Ethan Allen demanding the fort's surrender

  
  The capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred during the American Revolutionary War on May 10, 1775, when a small force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold surprised and captured the fort's small British garrison. The cannons and other armaments at Fort Ticonderoga were later transported to Boston by Colonel Henry Knox in the noble train of artillery and used to fortify Dorchester Heights and break the standoff at the siege of Boston.
  
  Capture of the fort marked the beginning of offensive action taken by the Americans against the British. After seizing Ticonderoga, a small detachment captured the nearby Fort Crown Point on May 11. Seven days later, Arnold and 50 men raided Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River in southern Quebec, seizing military supplies, cannons, and the largest military vessel on Lake Champlain. (Full article...)
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  James Moore (c. 1737 – c. April 15, 1777) was an American military officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Moore was born into a prominent political family in the colonial Province of North Carolina, he was one of only five generals from North Carolina to serve in the Continental Army. He spent much of his childhood and youth on his family's estates in the lower Cape Fear River area, but soon became active in the colonial military structure in North Carolina.
  
  Moore served in the North Carolina Militia during the French and Indian War, and commanded the militia's artillery at the Battle of Alamance, which ended the War of the Regulation. In addition to his military involvement, he was active in the independence movement, despite having been a supporter of the colonial government during his early career. Moore played a prominent role in the local Sons of Liberty organizations, and assisted in organizing the colony-wide extra-legal Provincial Congress. In 1775, he was elected the first commander of a Continental Line regiment in North Carolina, which had been raised following the instructions of the Continental Congress. (Full article...)
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  Adult perched in a honey mesquite tree

  
  The cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) is a species of wren that is endemic to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico. It is the state bird of Arizona, and the largest wren in the United States. Its plumage is brown, with black and white spots as markings. It has a distinctive white eyebrow that sweeps to the nape of the neck. The chest is white, whereas the underparts are cinnamon-buff colored. Both sexes appear similar. The tail, as well as flight feathers, are barred in black and white. Their song is a loud raspy chirrup; akin in the description of some ornithologists to the sound of a car engine that will not start. It is well-adapted to its native desert environment, and the birds can meet their water needs from their diet which consists chiefly of insects, but also of some plant matter. The cactus wren is a poor flier and generally forages for food on the ground. Ornithologists generally recognize seven subspecies, with the exact taxonomy under dispute.
  
  Its common name derives from their frequenting desert cactus plants such as the saguaro and cholla, building nests, roosting, and seeking protection from predators among them. Its bulky and globular nests are constructed of plant material and lined with feathers. They do not migrate; instead, they establish and defend the territories around their nests where they live all year-round. It lives in pairs, or as family groups from late spring through winter. Pairing among cactus wrens is monogamous; in each breeding season, the males chiefly build nests, the females incubate eggs, and both parents feed the young. (Full article...)
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  The Battle at St. Charles, White River, Arkansas—Explosion of the "Mound City" by Alexander Simplot

  
  The Battle of St. Charles was fought on June 17, 1862, at St. Charles, Arkansas, during the American Civil War. Earlier in 1862, a Union Army force commanded by Major General Samuel R. Curtis moved against Little Rock, Arkansas, but became bogged down in the Batesville area due to lack of supplies. The Union leadership decided to send a naval force from Memphis, Tennessee, up the White River to resupply Curtis's men. Major General Thomas C. Hindman, the Confederate commander in Arkansas, had fortifications constructed near St. Charles to stop the Union movement. Two artillery positions were built, and three ships, including CSS Maurepas, were scuttled to obstruct the river.
  
  The Union ships advanced against the Confederate positions on June 17. The 46th Indiana Infantry Regiment was sent ashore to attack the fortifications on land, while two ironclads and two timberclads attacked the fort from the river. During the fighting, a Confederate solid shot struck the ironclad USS Mound City, puncturing one of the ship's steam drums. In what has been referred to as the deadliest shot of the war, scalding steam filled the ship, killing or wounding all but about 25 of the roughly 175 men on the vessel. The 46th Indiana overran the Confederate defenses on land and the position was taken. The supply mission was unable to make it all the way to Curtis's position, and withdrew back down the river due to low water levels. Thereafter, Curtis's army cut loose from their supply line and marched to Helena, Arkansas. A portion of the battlefield is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the St. Charles Battle Site. (Full article...)
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  The first season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network between April 9 and May 14, 2009. Produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, the series was created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, who served as executive producers with Howard Klein. The season stars Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, and Aubrey Plaza.
  
  The comedy series focuses on Leslie Knope (Poehler), the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. The season consisted of six 22-minute episodes, all of which aired at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Daniels and Schur conceived the show when NBC officials asked Daniels to produce a spin-off of his comedy series The Office, on which Schur was a writer. During development, the creators decided the new show would be a stand-alone series, though it would share the mockumentary style of The Office. Like that show, Parks and Recreation encouraged improvisation among its cast members. (Full article...)
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  USS Constellation engaging the French frigate La Vengeance

  
  USS Constellation vs La Vengeance, or the action of 1 February 1800, was a single-ship action fought between frigates of the French Navy and the United States Navy during the Quasi-War. In the battle the American frigate USS Constellation tried to take the French frigate La Vengeance as a prize. Both ships were heavily damaged. Although the French frigate struck her colors (surrendered) twice, she managed to flee only after the main mast of her opponent had fallen.
  
  In 1798, an undeclared war had begun between the United States and France due to French seizures of American merchantmen. As part of an American effort to deter French attacks, Commodore Thomas Truxton led an American naval squadron that was dispatched to the Lesser Antilles. Learning that regular French naval forces were in the region, Truxton set out in his flagship Constellation and sailed to Guadeloupe to engage them. On 1 February 1800, while nearing the French colony, Constellation met François Marie Pitot's frigate La Vengeance of the French Navy. Despite Pitot's attempts to flee, his frigate was drawn into a heavy engagement with Constellation. Although the French frigate struck her colors twice, Constellation was unable to take La Vengeance as a prize. Eventually Pitot was able to escape with his frigate to Curaçao, though only after sustaining severe casualties and damage to his vessel. Truxton's ship sustained serious damage and sailed to Jamaica for repairs before returning home to a hero's welcome. (Full article...)
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  Benedict Joseph Fenwick SJ (September 3, 1782 – August 11, 1846) was an American Catholic prelate, Jesuit, and educator who served as the Bishop of Boston from 1825 until his death in 1846. In 1843, he founded the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to that, he was twice the president of Georgetown College and established several educational institutions in New York City and Boston.
  
  Born in Maryland, Fenwick entered the Society of Jesus and began his ministry in New York City in 1809 as the co-pastor of St. Peter's Church. He then became pastor of the original St. Patrick's Cathedral and later the vicar general and diocesan administrator of the Diocese of New York. In 1817, Fenwick became the president of Georgetown College, remaining just several months before he was tasked with resolving a longstanding schism at St. Mary's Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He remained in the city as vicar general for the Archdiocese of Baltimore until 1822, when he returned to Georgetown as acting president. (Full article...)
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  William Daniel Leahy (/ˈleɪhiˌ ˈleɪ.i/) (6 May 1875 – 20 July 1959) was an American naval officer. The most senior United States military officer on active duty during World War II, he held several titles and exercised considerable influence over foreign and military policy. As a fleet admiral, he was the first flag officer ever to hold a five-star rank in the U.S. Armed Forces.
  
  An 1897 graduate of Annapolis, Leahy saw active service in the Spanish–American War, the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Banana Wars in Central America, and World War I. He was the first member of his cadet class to reach flag rank, as the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance from 1927 to 1931. He subsequently served as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation from 1933 to 1936, and commanded the Battle Fleet from 1936 to 1937. As Chief of Naval Operations from 1937 to 1939, he was the senior officer in the United States Navy, overseeing the expansion of the fleet and preparations for war. (Full article...)
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  Hanna in 1977

  
  William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator, voice actor, and occasional musician who is best known for co-creating Tom and Jerry and providing the vocal effects for the series' title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.
  
  Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in 1930 and steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna met Joseph Barbera. In 1957, they co-founded Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, creating or producing programs such as The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors. (Full article...)
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  Eve is an American television sitcom created by Meg DeLoatch that originally aired for three seasons on UPN from September 15, 2003, to May 11, 2006. Featuring an ensemble cast consisting of Eve, Jason George, Ali Landry, Natalie Desselle-Reid, Brian Hooks, and Sean Maguire, the show revolves around two sets of male and female friends attempting to navigate relationships with the opposite sex. The executive producers were Robert Greenblatt and David Janollari; the series was produced by The Greenblatt/Janollari Studio and Mega Diva Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television for UPN.
  
  The series was developed as a vehicle for Eve under the working title The Opposite Sex; UPN executives approached the rapper about a television project after the success of fellow musician Brandy in another of the network's sitcoms, Moesha. Eve's series was created as part of the network's attempt to appeal to a younger demographic. After being picked up, the show was renamed Eve to attract the rapper's fans. It was set in Miami, but filmed at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood. Eve has stated that she was intimidated at first by the process of preparing for and filming a sitcom, and she would later regret not fully committing to her character. The show aired on UPN in its original run, and later in syndicated reruns on TV One and Cleo TV. UPN had promoted Eve as part of its new comedy block, one of four new comedies developed by the network. (Full article...)
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  AA11's path from Logan International Airport in Boston to New York City

  
  American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, killing everyone still alive aboard the flight and resulting in the deaths of more than one thousand people in the top 18 stories of the skyscraper in addition to causing the demise of numerous others below the trapped floors, making it not only the deadliest of the four suicide attacks executed that morning in terms of both plane and ground fatalities, but also the single deadliest act of terrorism in human history and the deadliest plane crash of all time. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 767-200ER with 92 passengers and crew, was flying American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental service from Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts to Los Angeles International Airport in California.
  
  The airplane left the runway at 07:59. Not more than 15 minutes after takeoff, the hijackers injured two people, murdered one, and breached the cockpit while forcing the passengers and crew to the rear of the aircraft against their will. The assailants quickly overpowered both the captain and the first officer and possibly killed them, allowing lead hijacker Mohamed Atta to take over the controls, having intensively trained as a pilot in the lead-up to the attacks. Air traffic controllers suspected that the flight was in distress because the crew were no longer responding. They realized the plane had been hijacked when Atta's falsely reassuring announcements for the hostages were transmitted to air traffic control instead of the cabin's PA system as intended. Two flight attendants were able to contact American Airlines and passed along information relevant to the situation, in particular casualties suffered by the passengers and crew. (Full article...)
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  "A Nice Day for a Posh Wedding" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American television comedy drama Ugly Betty and the series's 30th episode overall. It was written by Silvio Horta and Marco Pennette, and directed by James Hayman. The episode was originally broadcast on ABC in the United States on November 8, 2007. Ugly Betty centers on Betty Suarez's job at the fashion magazine MODE, despite not fitting their expectations of beauty and style. In this episode, MODE's creative director Wilhelmina Slater attempts to marry the magazine's publisher Bradford Meade.
  
  Victoria Beckham guest-stars as herself in the episode, appearing as Wilhelmina's maid of honor who steals attention from the wedding. She was originally supposed to wear a fatsuit as part of a joke about weight gain. Vanessa Williams's ex-husband, retired basketball player Rick Fox, appears as Wilhelmina's bodyguard and lover. Vera Wang makes a cameo appearance, and designed Wilhelmina's wedding dress and Beckham's bridesmaid dress. Wang first drafted a larger taffeta wedding dress, but Williams felt it was inappropriate for Wilhelmina's age and requested a simpler design. The wedding was filmed over several days at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. (Full article...)
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  Hurricane Andrew at peak intensity near the Bahamas on August 23

  
  Hurricane Andrew was a compact, but very powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It was the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged or destroyed, and remained the costliest in financial terms until Hurricane Irma surpassed it 25 years later. Andrew was also the strongest landfalling hurricane in the United States in decades and the costliest hurricane to strike anywhere in the country, until it was surpassed by Katrina in 2005.
  
  Andrew is one of only four tropical cyclones to make landfall in the continental United States as a Category 5, alongside the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, 1969's Camille, and 2018's Michael. While the storm also caused major damage in The Bahamas and Louisiana, the greatest impact was felt in South Florida, where the storm made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, with 1-minute sustained wind speeds as high as 165 mph (266 km/h) and a gust as high as 174 mph (280 km/h). (Full article...)
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  Surface map of the storm on October 10

  
  The 1910 Cuba hurricane, popularly known as the Cyclone of the Five Days, was an unusual and destructive tropical cyclone that struck Cuba and the United States in October 1910. It formed in the southern Caribbean on October 9 and strengthened as it moved northwestward, becoming a hurricane on October 12. After crossing the western tip of Cuba, it peaked in intensity on October 16, corresponding to Category 4 on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. That same day, the hurricane moved in a counterclockwise loop and hit Cuba again. It then tracked toward Florida, landing near Cape Romano. After moving through the state, it hugged the coast of the Southeastern United States on its way out to sea.
  
  Due to its unusual loop, initial reports suggested it was two separate storms that developed and hit land in rapid succession. Its track was subject to much debate at the time; eventually, it was identified as a single storm. Analysis of the event gave a greater understanding of weather systems that took similar paths. (Full article...)
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  The FP is a 2011 American comedy film written and directed by Brandon and Jason Trost. The film focuses on two gangs, the 248 and the 245, fighting for control of Frazier Park (the FP). The gangs settle their disputes by playing Beat-Beat Revelation, a music video game similar to Dance Dance Revolution. Gang member JTRO (Jason Trost) trains to defeat L Dubba E (Lee Valmassy), the leader of a rival gang. The film also features Caitlyn Folley, Art Hsu, Nick Principe and Dov Tiefenbach.
  
  Jason Trost conceived The FP when he was 16, and developed it into a short film starring himself, Valmassy, Principe, DeBello, Brandon Barrera, Diane Gaeta, Kris Lemche and Torry Haynes in 2007. After seeing the finished film, Barrera suggested that Trost make a feature-length version. In the expanded production, Gaeta, Lemche, and Haynes were replaced with Folley, Hsu, and Bryan Goddard, respectively. Principal photography took place in Frazier Park, California in September 2008. Ron Trost—Brandon and Jason Trost's father—served as special effects supervisor and executive producer of the film, and his property was the primary filming location. (Full article...)
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  The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.
  
  The statue is a figure of a classically draped woman, likely inspired by the Roman goddess of liberty Libertas. In a contrapposto pose, she holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. With her left foot she steps on a broken chain and shackle, commemorating the national abolition of slavery following the American Civil War. After its dedication the statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, being subsequently seen as a symbol of welcome to immigrants arriving by sea. (Full article...)
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  Santiago performing in 2017

  
  Joseph Alberto Santiago (born June 10, 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries, and he formed The Martinis with his ex-wife, Linda Mallari. He also contributed to albums by Charles Douglas and former Pixies band-mate Frank Black. Santiago resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004.
  
  Santiago has described his guitar technique as "angular and bent", and he cites Les Paul, George Harrison, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and Jimi Hendrix as major influences on his style. His guitar playing, as part of the Pixies' sound, was held in high regard by critics: MTV's Laurel Bowman commented that Santiago's "sonic plow was the key element in the Pixies' monstrous presence". (Full article...)
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  Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a 2018 American action spy film written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) and the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. The ensemble cast includes Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, and Alec Baldwin. Set two years after the events of Rogue Nation, Fallout follows Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team in their efforts to prevent a nuclear attack by terrorist Solomon Lane and the mysterious extremist John Lark.
  
  Work on a sequel to Rogue Nation commenced before its 2015 release. The series' first returning director, McQuarrie intended for Fallout to better explore Ethan's character and emotions, believing previous entries had left him primarily a cipher for audiences, and to test the limits of Ethan's abilities, morality, and personal relationships. The script was brief, only 33 pages, serving as an outline driven primarily by the interesting filming locations and allowing for improvisation and significant changes to scenes throughout filming. Principal photography began in April 2017, on a $178–180 million budget, in Paris, continuing on to London, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates by early 2018. Filming was delayed for several months after Cruise broke his ankle during a stunt, significantly inflating the budget while the production waited for his return but also providing McQuarrie the opportunity to further develop unfinished scenes in the script. (Full article...)
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  LCTs and LCMs land supplies on the beach west of Saint-Raphaël on 20 August 1944. Matted ramp in foreground is for DUKWs.

  
  Logistics played a key role in the success of Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France during World War II that commenced with the US Seventh Army landings on the French Riviera on 15 August 1944. On 12 September, the Seventh Army made contact with Allied forces that had landed in Normandy earlier that year as part of Operation Overlord. The supporting logistical organizations continued to operate separately, with the Southern Line of Communications supporting the Seventh Army drawing its supplies from the North African Theater of Operations until it merged with the Communications Zone of the European Theater of Operations on 20 November.
  
  The primary objective of the campaign was to capture the ports of Marseille and Toulon, preceding a drive northward up the Rhone valley to connect with Allied forces from Normandy. Both ports were captured, but they had been badly damaged by German demolitions and Allied bombing, so considerable effort was required to bring them into service. The unexpectedly rapid Allied advance was the principal cause of logistical problems, although a theater-wide shortage of service units and an unanticipated dearth of French civilian labor also contributed. (Full article...)
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  KCPQ (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KZJO (channel 22), which broadcasts MyNetworkTV. The two stations share studios on Westlake Avenue in Seattle's Westlake neighborhood; KCPQ's main transmitter is located on Gold Mountain in Bremerton.
  
  The station signed on in August 1953 as KMO-TV, the television outgrowth of Tacoma radio station KMO. It was briefly an NBC network affiliate until another Seattle station signed on; the next year, KMO radio and television were sold to separate owners. The Seattle broadcaster J. Elroy McCaw bought channel 13, changed the call sign to KTVW, and ran it as an independent station. While KTVW produced a number of local programs, McCaw, a famously parsimonious owner, never converted the station to broadcast in color, and its syndicated programming inventory was considered meager. McCaw died in August 1969; three years later, his estate sold the station to the Blaidon Mutual Investors Corporation. While Blaidon tried several new programs and began color telecasting, the station continued to underperform financially. Two attempts to sell KTVW to out-of-state buyers failed because of its high liabilities. After a walkout by employees in January and the appointment of a receiver in July, KTVW was ordered closed on December 12, 1974. (Full article...)
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  Connecticut underway sometime before World War I

  
  USS Connecticut (BB-18), the fourth United States Navy ship to be named after the state of Connecticut, was the lead ship of her class of six pre-dreadnought battleships. Her keel was laid on 10 March 1903; launched on 29 September 1904, Connecticut was commissioned on 29 September 1906, as the most advanced ship in the US Navy.
  
  Connecticut served as the flagship for the Jamestown Exposition in mid-1907, which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony. She later sailed with the Great White Fleet on a circumnavigation of the Earth to showcase the US Navy's growing fleet of blue-water-capable ships. After completing her service with the Great White Fleet, Connecticut participated in several flag-waving exercises intended to protect American citizens abroad until she was pressed into service as a troop transport at the end of World War I to expedite the return of American Expeditionary Forces from France. (Full article...)
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  History of poll taxes as a condition to voting

  
  The women's poll tax repeal movement was a movement in the United States, predominantly led by women, that attempted to secure the abolition of poll taxes as a prerequisite for voting in the Southern states. The movement began shortly after the ratification in 1920 of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted suffrage to women. Before obtaining the right to vote, women were not obliged to pay the tax, but shortly after the Nineteenth Amendment became law, Southern states began examining how poll tax statutes could be applied to women. For example, North and South Carolina exempted women from payment of the tax, while Georgia did not require women to pay it unless they registered to vote. In other Southern states, the tax was due cumulatively for each year someone had been eligible to vote.
  
  Payment of the tax was difficult for Black, Hispanic, and women voters, primarily because their incomes were much lower than those of white men. For married women, coverture prevented them from controlling their own assets. Recognizing that payment of the tax as a prerequisite to voting could lead to their disenfranchisement, women began organizing themselves in the 1920s to repeal the poll tax laws, but the movement did not gain much traction until the Great Depression in the 1930s. Both black and white women pressed at state and national levels for legislative action to abolish laws that required paying to vote. In addition, women filed a series of lawsuits to try to effect change. By the 1950s, the intersection of sexist and racist customs and law was apparent to those fighting the poll tax. This created collaborations between activists involved in the poll tax movement and those active in the broader civil rights movement. (Full article...)
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  Capon Lake Whipple Truss Bridge, looking northwest from its southeast end, in 2009

  
  The Capon Lake Whipple Truss Bridge (locally /ˈkeɪpən/), formerly known as South Branch Bridge or Romney Bridge, is a historic Whipple truss bridge in Capon Lake, West Virginia. It is located off Carpers Pike (West Virginia Route 259) and crosses the Cacapon River. The bridge formerly carried Capon Springs Road (County Route 16) over the river, connecting Capon Springs and Capon Lake.
  
  The bridge's Whipple truss technology was developed by civil engineer Squire Whipple in 1847. J. W. Murphy further modified Whipple's truss design in 1859 by designing the first truss bridge with pinned eyebar connections. The design of the Capon Lake Whipple Truss Bridge incorporates Murphy's later modifications with double-intersections and horizontal chords, and is therefore considered a Whipple–Murphy truss bridge. The Capon Lake Whipple Truss Bridge is West Virginia's oldest remaining example of a Whipple truss bridge and its oldest extant metal truss bridge. (Full article...)
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  James Wood Bush (c. 1844–45 – April 24, 1906) was an American Union Navy sailor of British and Native Hawaiian descent. He was among a group of more than one hundred Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants in the American Civil War, at a time when the Kingdom of Hawaii was still an independent nation.
  
  Enlisting in the Union Navy in 1864, Bush served as a sailor aboard USS Vandalia and the captured Confederate vessel USS Beauregard, which maintained the blockade of the ports of the Confederacy. He was discharged from service in 1865 after an injury, which developed into a chronic condition in later life. The impoverished Bush was unable to return to Hawaii for more than a decade, during which time he traveled through New England and much of the Pacific. Back in Hawaii, he worked as a government tax collector and road supervisor for the island of Kauai, where he settled down. In later life, he converted to Mormonism and became an active member of the Hawaiian Mission. After the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Bush was recognized for his military service, and in 1905 was granted a government pension for the injuries he received in the Navy. He died at his home on Kauai on April 24, 1906. (Full article...)
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  Official portrait, c. 1870s

  
  Thomas Francis Bayard (October 29, 1828 – September 28, 1898) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat from Wilmington, Delaware. A Democrat, he served three terms as the United States Senator from Delaware and made three unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. In 1885, President Grover Cleveland appointed him Secretary of State. After four years in private life, he returned to the diplomatic arena as Ambassador to Great Britain.
  
  Born in Delaware to a prominent family, Bayard learned politics from his father James A. Bayard Jr., who also served in the Senate. In 1869, the Delaware legislature elected Bayard to the Senate upon his father's retirement. A Peace Democrat during the Civil War, Bayard spent his early years in the Senate in opposition to Republican policies, especially the Reconstruction of the defeated Confederate states. His conservatism extended to financial matters as he became known as a staunch supporter of the gold standard and an opponent of greenbacks and silver coinage which he believed would cause inflation. Bayard's conservative politics made him popular in the Southern United States and with financial interests in the Eastern United States, but never popular enough to obtain the Democratic nomination for president which he attempted to win in 1876, 1880 and 1884. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated) -

• ... that the United States severed diplomatic ties with Finland in 1944 because of a personal letter sent to Hitler?
• ... that Arekia Bennett was inspired to organize a voter registration drive in 2017 by the 1964 Freedom Summer drive?
• ... that Raymond Bushland and Edward F. Knipling won the 1992 World Food Prize for developing the sterile insect technique which eliminated parasitic screw-worms from the United States?
• ... that the Supreme Court has been cited as a vector of democratic backsliding in the United States?
• ... that a retired high school teacher coached the United States men's national ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics?
• ... that former Union brigadier general J. H. Hobart Ward was struck and killed by a train while on vacation?
• ... that a solvent company can access the bankruptcy courts by doing the Texas two-step?
• ... that between 1899 and 1923 the United States government issued 3,604,239,600 one-dollar Black Eagle Silver Certificates?

Selected society biography -

Samuel Adams (September 27 [O.S. September 16] 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, politician, writer and political philosopher, brewer, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Adams was instrumental in garnering the support of the colonies for rebellion against Great Britain, eventually resulting in the American Revolution, and was also one of the key architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped American political culture.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Adams was brought up in a religious and politically active family. After being educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard College, Adams became a mercantile businessman, but this proved not to be his vocation and he soon turned to politics, and became an influential political writer and theorist. Adams established himself as one of the voices of opposition to British control in the colonies; he argued that the colonies should withdraw from Great Britain and form a new government. Adams called for the colonists to defend their rights and liberties, and led town meetings in which he drafted written protests against Parliament's colonial tax measures such as the Stamp Act of 1765. Adams played a prominent role during protests against the Stamp Act, and in the events of the Boston Tea Party in 1773. He participated in the Continental Congress. He also advocated the adoption of the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress.

Selected image -

• 
  Construction of Mount Rushmore

  Photo credit: Rise Studio

  The construction of Mount Rushmore, a United States National Monument depicting the heads of four U.S. Presidents carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota, began on August 10, 1927, with the bust of George Washington. This first phase was completed in seven years (partial completion in 1932 shown here), culminating in its unveiling in 1934. The remaining three heads—Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt—took only an additional seven years to complete.
• 
  Trumbull's Declaration of Independence

  Painting credit: John Trumbull

  John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, a 12 by 18 feet (3.7 by 5.5 m) oil painting depicting the presentation of a draft of the United States Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress. While this event did take place, it was not actually in the presence of all the people in the picture. The painting can be found in the rotunda of the United States Capitol.
• 
  C. Everett Koop

  Photograph: United States Public Health Service; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  C. Everett Koop (1916–2013) was an American pediatric surgeon and public health administrator. He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and served as the 13th Surgeon General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989. Koop was known for his work to reduce tobacco use, AIDS, and abortion, and for his support of the rights of disabled children.
• 
  Burning of Washington

  Artist: George Munger; Restoration: Lise Broer

  In the evening hours of August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces attacked Washington, D.C., setting fire to the White House and the unfinished Capitol Building (damage to latter shown here), among other buildings. This was the second and last time in United States history that a foreign power has captured and occupied the United States capital.
• 
  Battle of Malvern Hill

  Map: Private Robert K. Sneden, mapmaker for Samuel P. Heintzelman's III Corps

  The Battle of Malvern Hill was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac. It was the final battle of the Seven Days Battles during the American Civil War, taking place on Malvern Hill near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Including inactive reserves, more than fifty thousand soldiers from each side took part, using more than two hundred pieces of artillery and three warships. The battle resulted in a tactical victory for the Union side, but the Confederates claimed a strategic victory as the Union failed to go on to capture Richmond.
  
  This is a map of the night's march undertaken by the Union forces after the battle.
• 
  Denver

  Photograph: William Henry Jackson; Restoration: Bammesk

  Denver is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1858, the city is named after James W. Denver, a governor of the Kansas Territory, and it is nicknamed the Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.3 meters) above sea level. Formerly part of Arapahoe County, Denver became a consolidated city-county in 1902.
  
  This picture shows a panorama of Denver in around 1898, viewed from the top of the Colorado State Capitol, facing northwest and looking down 16th St. The domed building on the left is the former Arapahoe County Courthouse, demolished in 1933, and the Brown Palace Hotel is visible on the righthand side.
• 
  James K. Polk

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  James K. Polk (1795–1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously served as the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives and as governor of Tennessee. A protege of Andrew Jackson, Polk was a member of the Democratic Party and an advocate of Jacksonian democracy and manifest destiny. During his presidency, the United States expanded significantly with the annexation of Texas, the Oregon Treaty, and the conclusion of the Mexican–American War.
• 
  Racial segregation in the United States

  Photo: Marion Post Wolcott; Restoration: Lise Broer

  An African American man climbs the stairs to a theater's "colored" entrance in Belzoni, Mississippi, in 1939. The door on the ground floor is labeled "white men only". De jure (legally enforced) racial segregation in the United States was eliminated by a series of Supreme Court decisions starting with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
• 
  NAWSA check

  Check: Harriet Taylor Upton (image courtesy of the National Museum of American History)

  A check from the National American Woman Suffrage Association, payable to Rachel Foster Avery, which was filled out by hand by the Association's treasurer Harriet Taylor Upton and countersigned by Susan B. Anthony as president and Alice Stone Blackwell as recording secretary.
  
  NAWSA, formed on February 18, 1890, to work for women's suffrage in the United States, was formally led by Anthony between 1892 and 1900. During her presidency, the small organization focused predominantly on women's rights at the state level—much to Anthony's chagrin. It also sent delegates to the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition.
• 
  History of Boston

  Map credit: Sir Thomas Hyde Page

  A map of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1775 showing tactical positions from the perspective of the British Army. The caption in the upper left reads, "A plan of the town of Boston with the intrenchments [sic] &ca. of His Majesty's forces in 1775, from the observations of Lieut. Page of His Majesty's Corps of Engineers, and from those of other gentlemen." Boston in the early 1770s played a major role in sparking the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and several of the early battles of the Revolution (such as the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston) occurred near or in the city.
• 
  California State Capitol

  Photograph credit: Andre m

  The California State Capitol, located in Sacramento, is the seat of the California government. The building houses the chambers of the California State Legislature, comprising the Assembly and the Senate, along with the office of the governor of California. The Neoclassical structure was designed by Reuben S. Clark and completed between 1861 and 1874. The California State Capitol Museum is housed on its grounds.
• 
  Jane Russell

  Photograph credit: George Hurrell

  Jane Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model who became one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. This publicity still, depicting Russell reclining on a bed of hay and holding a pistol, was taken by George Hurrell for her film debut in Howard Hughes's film The Outlaw (1943), which launched her career. She went on to star in more than twenty films, including opposite Marilyn Monroe in the hugely successful Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).
• 
  Check used for the Alaska Purchase

  Check: William H. Seward; scan: Our Documents initiative

  The check used for the Alaska Purchase, issued on August 1, 1868, and signed by US Secretary of State William H. Seward. For a total of $7.2 million, the United States government purchased Russian America from the Russian Empire (represented here by Russian Minister to the United States Eduard de Stoeckl). The lands involved became the modern state of Alaska in 1959.
• 
  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  Lithograph: Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  A bird's eye view of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a 1902 lithograph by Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler. At this point in its history, Pittsburgh was an industrial and commercial powerhouse, with extensive railroad connections to the rest of the United States. Together with the rest of Allegheny County, it produced massive amounts of steel and steel products: by 1911 they reached 24% of the national output of pig iron, 34% of Bessemer steel, 44% of open hearth steel, 53% of crucible steel, 24% of steel rail, and 59% of structural shape.
• 
  Philip Francis Thomas

  Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

  Philip Francis Thomas (12 September 1810 – 2 October 1890) was an American lawyer and politician. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates and was the 28th governor of Maryland from 1848 to 1851. In 1860, he was appointed as the 23rd United States secretary of the treasury, in President James Buchanan's administration. He held the post for only one month, resigning after he failed to obtain a loan to pay the interest on the bonded public debt. After unsuccessfully standing for election to the United States Senate in 1878, he returned to the Maryland House of Delegates and later resumed the practice of law.

Selected culture biography -

Sandy Koufax is an American left-handed former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, from 1955 to 1966.

Koufax's career peaked with a run of six outstanding seasons, before arthritis ended his career at age 30. He was named the National League's MVP in 1963, and won the 1963, 1965, and 1966 Cy Young Awards by unanimous votes. He was the first major leaguer to pitch more than three no-hitters (including a perfect game).

Among NL pitchers with at least 2,000 innings pitched who have debuted since 1913, he has the highest career winning percentage (.655) and had the lowest career ERA (2.76) until surpassed by Tom Seaver. His 2,396 career strikeouts ranked 7th in major league history upon his retirement. Retiring at the peak of his career, he became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Koufax is also known as one of the outstanding Jewish athletes of his era in American professional sports. His decision not to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because game day fell on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, garnered national attention as an example of conflict between social pressures and personal beliefs.

Selected location -

Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and Metro Detroit is the second largest metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario Detroit is a geographically unique as the only U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded in 1701 by the Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.

It is known as the world's traditional automotive center — "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry — and an important source of popular music, legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames emerged in the twentieth century, including Rock City, Arsenal of Democracy (during World War II), The D, D-Town, and The 3-1-3 (its area code). The metropolitan area is an important center for research and development; its broad based economy includes advanced manufacturing, robotics, biotechnology, information technology, and finance. Metro Detroit attracts about 15.9 million visitors annually.

In 2008, Detroit ranked as the United States' eleventh most populous city, with 910,920 residents. A population shift to the suburbs began in the 1950s and continued as the metropolitan area grew to one of the nation's largest. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area, a sprawling region with a population of 4,425,110 for the Metropolitan Statistical Area, and 5,354,225 for the Combined Statistical Area, making it the nation's eleventh-largest as of the 2008 Census Bureau estimates. The Windsor-Detroit area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canada-U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,800,000.

Selected quote -

Anniversaries for February 20

• 1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
• 1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
• 1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
• 1962 – While aboard Friendship 7, part of the Mercury program, John Glenn orbits the Earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.
• 1992 – Ross Perot (pictured) announces his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live.
• 2001 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.

Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -

The cuisine of Philadelphia was shaped largely by the city's mixture of ethnicities, available foodstuffs and history. Certain foods have become associated with the city. (Full article...)

Selected panorama -

Los Angeles and Griffith Observatory, as viewed from the Hollywood Hills.

Los Angeles and Griffith Observatory, as viewed from the Hollywood Hills.

More did you know? -

• ... that Glacier Bay (pictured) in Alaska, US, known in the 18th century as the Grand Pacific Glacier, was a single glacier that has now retreated by 65 miles to the head of the bay at Tarr Inlet?
• ... that the American Delta blues pianist and singer, Willie Love, never employed his musician friend, Sonny Boy Williamson II, on any of his own recordings?
• ... that the Alexandria Zoological Park in Alexandria, Louisiana, US, started mostly with discarded pets when it opened in 1926?

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