Unknown America Read online

  What we do know about Harriet, through the testimony of one of her brothers, is that she married a “white man in good standing” and “raised of family of children.” According to her brother her true identity had never been discovered, even by her own husband and children. In order to protect her freedom and to protect the rights of her children, Harriet Hemings disowned the past and forged a new life under the guise of being 100% white.

  Although recent scientific studies have proven there is no difference in blood as a marker for race, this was simply not known at the time and had she been found out, Harriet and her children would have become social outcasts despite being mostly white. Although a complex issue, overt expressions of racism are simply a byproduct of the accepted social mores of the day. People typically are only as openly bigoted as the current society will accept. And in that era a lot was accepted. Even for the daughter of the President of the United States. So in her pursuit of freedom, Harriet Hemings renounced her family and her past and simply vanished.

  The life of Harriet Hemings was not particularly compelling. She made no platform out of her plight. She brought no attention to the cause of eradicating bigotry. She didn't champion the rights of minorities. But she did leave a legacy. A legacy with a poignant message especially when you consider it was her father that penned the words…

  “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

  A lesson in life? Perhaps. If only some people would have the temerity to learn from it.

  Frances Perkins

  Perkins was the first female United States Cabinet member. She served as Secretary of Labor under Franklin Roosevelt. Perkins is also the second longest serving Cabinet member in history.

  She played an essential role in the New Deal Program as well as helping pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. Perkins championed many New Deal initiatives like the Civilian Conservation Corps, and The Public Works Administration. She helped establish unemployment benefits, elderly pension, Welfare, minimum wage, overtime laws and the establishment of the maximum 44 hour work week. She worked tirelessly to reduce workplace accidents and helped craft child labor laws as well as formed policy dealing with labor unions and alleviating strikes through the US Conciliation Service. The US Labor Department building is named after her in her honor.

  Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias

  Babe Didrikson was an American athlete who achieved a great deal of success in golf, basketball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympic Games before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships beginning in 1935.

  Although a latecomer to the sport she quickly gained fame - becoming America's first female Golf celebrity and leading player of the 1940's and early 1950's. So proficient in the sport, Babe competed in the Los Angeles Open, a men's PGA tournament, a feat no other woman attempted until Annika Sorenstam, Suzy Whaley and Michelle Wie almost six decades later. Whatever women's sports was and is to become, much credit should be given to Babe Didrikson for allying any doubts that women could compete in athletics and women's sports was here to stay.

  MYTH BUSTER ALERT!

  Gustave Whitehead

  Did history get who really invented the airplane “Wright?”

  Born Gustav Albin Weisskopf, Gustave Whitehead was an aviation pioneer who emigrated from Germany to the US where he designed and built gliders, flying machines and engines between 1897 and 1915. A published newspaper article of the day suggested that he flew a powered machine successfully several times in 1901 and 1902 before the first flights by the Wright Brothers in 1903.

  The account was written as an eyewitness report and described a powered and sustained flight by Whitehead in Connecticut on August 14th 1901. Dozens of newspapers in the U.S. and around the world soon repeated information from the article. Several local newspapers also reported on this and other flight experiments that Whitehead purportedly made in 1901 and in following years. Whitehead's aircraft designs and experiments were described or mentioned in contemporary Scientific American magazine articles and a 1904 book about industrial progress. His public profile faded after about 1915 and he died in relative obscurity in 1927. Gustave's feat is celebrated in Connecticut to this day as the real first successful air flight. So does history owe Gustave Whitehead an apology? Seems so.

  Philo Farnsworth

  Many people credit Bill Gates and Steve Jobs for having the biggest impact on the information age, however the person that probably deserves more credit than any other for connecting America to the outside world is Philo Farnsworth.

  Farnsworth is the brains behind the invention of the television.

  At the age of 14, Philo figured out a way to transmit images electronically. In 1921 he described and diagrammed a prototype television in a school science paper.

  Then in 1926, Farnsworth built his first television camera and receiving apparatus. A year later, he made the first electronic transmission of television using a carbon arc projector to send a single line to a receiver in the next room of his apartment.

  Unfortunately for Farnsworth the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) owned a patent for television by a competing inventor. As a result, Farnsworth spent years of his life embroiled in lawsuits, defending himself from infringement claims and seeking to guard his own patent rights. In 1939 RCA finally licensed Farnsworth's patents and paid him $1 million.

  Farnsworth only appeared on TV once on the game shown I've Got A Secret in which a panel tries to guess his identity. Needless to say they blow it. Philo Farnsworth signed off for good on March 11th 1971.

  Willie James Perry

  While many people have made little recognized contributions to the fabric of American history, contributions that affected the nation as a whole, scores more have made contributions to their communities that also deserve recognition.

  One such American was Willie Perry of Birmingham Alabama. I've included his story to represent all those Americans that have made life better for us all while expecting nothing in return. I have also been a personal recipient of Willie's kindness.

  Willie James Perry, also known as the Birmingham Batman, was well-known for cruising around the city helping stranded motorists and giving free rides in his customized 1971 Ford Thunderbird, dubbed the “Batmobile Rescue Ship.”

  Perry lived by the motto “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” After he heard about a woman whose car had broken down being raped by a group of men who had seemingly stopped to help her, he decided to take to the streets in a way that he could be recognized as a helper that could be trusted.

  Willie would travel around town carrying gas, jumper cables and tools to help people whose cars had broken down. He gave rides to people who had too much to drink, took elderly people to doctor's appointments and drove kids without transportation to fast food restaurants or as entertainment for birthday parties. He visited home-bound neighbors and assisted with guiding traffic around road hazards.

  On at least one occasion Perry foiled an attempted robbery at a pharmacy. He always refused any offer of payment for his services.

  Ironically it was Willie's caring generosity that contributed to his death. Willie Perry died in January 1985 of carbon monoxide poisoning while working on his Rescue Ship in an enclosed garage.

  Herman Hollerith

  Herman Hollerith was an American inventor of German descent who developed an electromechanical punch card tabulator to assist in summarizing information. He was also the founder of the Tabulating Machine Company. In 1911 Herman's company was consolidated with three other to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, later renamed International Business Machines or IBM as it's more commonly known.

  Hollerith is regarded as one of the seminal figures in the development of data processing. His inventio
n of the punch card tabulating machine marks the beginning of the era of semiautomatic data processing systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century.

  But this is not where the story ends for it was Hollerith's punch card technology that was used by the Nazi's during World War II to track and catalog Jews for asset removal and later extermination. Most assuredly without Hollerith's knowledge nor consent.

  (See IBM and the Nazi Death Camps in UNKNOWN MILITARY HISTORY)

  CHAPTER THREE

  UNKNOWN AMERICANA

  Little known facts about life in America

  Did you know…

  -1 in 8 Americans have been employed by the fast food chain McDonald's.

  -In more than half of all US states the highest paid public employee in the state is a football coach.

  -It costs the US government 1.8 cents to mint a penny and 9.4 cents to mint a nickel.

  -As an aspiring actor, Leonard Nimoy, yes Spock, worked as a cabbie. He once gave a ride to a future President of the United States... John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

  -America is one of only two countries in the world, alongside New Zealand, that allows pharmaceutical companies to advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers. So all those Ambien and Zoloft commercials seem pretty odd to non-Americans.

  -The phrase “Winning Hands Down” originally referred to a Jockey that won a race without whipping his horse or having to pull back on the reins.

  -The equivalent of 100 Acres of Pizza are served in the US every day!

  -By the time a child graduates from High School he has seen 40,000 murders on TV. Concerns about the impact of television violence on society have been hotly debated for years. As early as 1952, the United States House of Representatives was holding hearings to explore the impact of television violence and concluded that the “television broadcast industry was a perpetrator and a deliverer of violence.”

  MYTH BUSTER ALERT!

  Cracking the myth of the Liberty Bell

  The Liberty Bell is shrouded in more than two centuries of myth and inaccuracies. Much of that arose between 1753, when the bell was raised to the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), and 1852 when it was lowered never to be rung again.

  Among the most popular misconceptions:

  * The bell was cast to celebrate political liberty and emancipation from England and the ruling of King George III. The bell was actually cast in 1752 by order of the Pennsylvania Assembly. It's primary purpose was to serve Philadelphia as a means of communication by gathering citizens for celebrations, public mourning or to announce important the news of the day.

  * The signing of the Declaration of Independence was announced by the sounding of the bell on July 4, 1776, earning it the name “Liberty Bell.” Although the bell hung in the state house tower at the time, neither historians of the day nor the journal of the Second Continental Congress mentions it ringing to announce the signing. (Which actually took weeks to complete and so ringing on this particular day would have been premature making this claim even more unlikely).

  Additionally the earliest public reading of the Declaration did not occur until July 8th outside the statehouse. Although the bell did summon people to that gathering, (Remember this was a common practice) it would not inherit the name Liberty Bell until 1839 when a Boston abolitionist group published a pamphlet called The Liberty Bell, by Friends of Freedom – that featured a picture of the bell.

  * The bell cracked while announcing that the Declaration of Independence had been adopted. But when the bell actually cracked is simply not known. What is known is the bell's tone was seriously altered decades after the Declaration reading on July 8, 1835 as it rang to mark the death of Chief Justice John Marshall. Most likely, a hairline fracture occurred sometime during the early 19th century, extended gradually and grew large enough at the tolling July 8 to kill its tone.

  The bell was used sparingly until 1846 when the fracture was repaired by being widened and bolted at each end. Eventually the Liberty Bell would go entirely dumb and be retired once the repair had workout. Interestingly enough many visitors mistake the repair to the Liberty Bell as the crack that finally silenced the old bell when it fact it is the repair they are seeing.

  The origin of Sideburns

  The term Sideburns is a 19th-century corruption of the original Burnsides, named after American Civil War General Ambrose Burnsides. The fashion forward facial hair became quite trendy in the late 19th century. So much so even future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt gave the look a go while an undergraduate at Harvard in the late 1870's. “Burnsides” probably became known as “sideburns” simply because of their location on the side of the face.

  Gender Bias?

  Often referred to as Ladies' Night - this promotional event, often at a bar or nightclub, where women pay less than men for the cover charge or drinks has been subject of a debate in many state courts. In California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin courts have ruled that ladies' night discounts are unlawful gender discrimination under state or local statutes. Causing thousands of single men on the prowl to exclaim, nooooooooo!

  Twisting the night away

  Shortly after the game “Twister” was introduced in 1966, some critics denounced the game as “sex in a box.” This claim may never have happened if the game had not been featured on the Tonight Show. When released Twister was widely unpopular. But just as Milton Bradley was about to pull the plug, the PR firm representing the game pitched it to the Tonight Show. The spectacle of Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor being “tied up” while playing Twister caused a meteoric surge in sales, causing toy making competitors to panic, hence the “sex” accusation. (There's no data to prove the sex claim itself boosted sales but one can imagine it likely didn't hurt).

  Daylight Savings Time

  The original concept we now call Daylight Saving Time was an idea of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin published an essay in the Journal de Paris in April of 1784, called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light,” where he proposed the French could conserve 64 million pounds of candle wax if they woke up with the sun in springtime making the most of the natural daylight. (Franklin was being sarcastic as he was known to be in many of his writings). The French took Franklin seriously and adopted the idea.

  First introduced to the US in 1918, “Fast Time” as it was called then, was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson to support the war effort during the first World War. (And not to help farmers as some have suggested. Most people in the agricultural industry actually hate the idea.) Seven months later the time change was repealed. However some cities, including Pittsburgh, Boston, and New York, continued to use it until President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted year-round DST in 1942. (And the debate of whether to make the make DST year round continues to this day)

  Snake bit son?

  Abraham Lincoln's son Robert is the only man in US history to have witnessed the assassinations of three different Presidents: His father, James Garfield, and William McKinley. After he saw anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoot McKinley, Robert vowed he would never again appear in public with a sitting President. Future Presidents appreciated the gesture.

  Statue of Liberty

  The seven spikes on the crown of Miss Liberty represent the seven oceans and the seven continents of the world indicating the universal concept of liberty. Although you cannot see Lady Liberty’s feet clearly she is in fact standing among a broken shackle and chains, with her right foot raised, depicting her moving forward away from oppression and slavery.

  The little known inspiration for Apple's Rainbow Apple

  During the early years of WWII, the German super Battleship Bismarck was terrorizing and destroying enemy vessels throughout the Atlantic. Thought to be unsinkable, England made her destruction a top priority. “Sink the Bismarck” was a WWII Battle Cry and the phrase was made into movies and even a song years later.

  To stop the reign of Naval terror, the Brits employed
an amazing new invention called the Bombe which was created by a brilliant, young, mathematician named Alan Turing. At the time Turing was working at the top secret British deciphering lab Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire England. The Bombe was an electromechanical device which helped the British decode the ultra secretive German Enigma coded messages.

  On May 25, 1941 the Bombe helped to locate the Bismarck, which was leaking fuel and limping to Norway for repairs after a dust-up with the British Naval fleet. On May 27th the scourge of the Atlantic was sunk by British torpedo-bombers and battleships using Turing's technology.

  Following the war it was discovered that Turing was actually homosexual. Since being gay during this time in England was illegal, Turing was arrested. To avoid jail, he agreed to be chemically castrated. But in 1954 Turing, presumably due to depression related to the procedure, took his own life by cyanide poisoning. A sad loss because it was Turing's work that paved the way for the development of the first computers. But Alan Turing had a somewhat odd bedtime ritual; he would always eat an apple before going to sleep. And it was a partially eaten apple next to his bedside that led to the speculation that he laced the fruit with the cyanide to end his life.