The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, when Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union army accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy. The most widespread celebration of Appomattox Day took place in 1965 during the Civil War centennial year. The day was noted across the country with costumed pageants, books and articles reflecting on the war, and concerts of martial music. Although the anniversary is not observed on a yearly basis, reenactments of the historic surrender are held periodically. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Paul Robeson was an American stage actor, singer, and political activist. The son of a runaway slave who became a minister, Robeson graduated from Rutgers, where he was an All-American football player, and then from Columbia University law school, before turning to theater. Known for his superb bass-baritone, he gained fame for his stage role in Othello. He later became an outspoken activist on issues such as racial justice and international peace. Why was his passport revoked in 1950? 
The ginkgo is a tall and slender picturesque deciduous tree with fan-shaped leaves. A “living fossil,” the ginkgo is the only remaining species of a large order of gymnosperms that existed in the Triassic period; its form has not changed in millions of years. A combination of amazing disease resistance, insect-resistant wood, and the ability to form aerial roots and sprouts helps ginkgoes live more than 2,000 years. Where does the name “ginkgo biloba” come from? 
One of the most important preserved medieval military castles in the world, the Krak des Chevaliers in Syria was the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades. The largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land, it could hold up to 2,000 soldiers and included a chapel, a storage facility, and two stables that could accommodate up to 1,000 horses. Though it is estimated that the Hospitallers could have withstood a siege for five years, the fortress was captured in 1271. How? 
Hana Matsuri is a celebration of the 
Rittenhouse was a renowned American astronomer, inventor, mathematician, surveyor, and the first director of the US Mint. A clockmaker by trade, he developed many mathematical instruments, as well as perhaps the first telescope in the US. He later used tools he created to establish several state lines as well as part of the boundary known as the Mason-Dixon Line. What is said to have happened to Rittenhouse in 1769 as he observed the rare transit of Venus that he had long anticipated? 
Tiger’s eye is a yellow-brown, semiprecious chatoyant gemstone consisting of quartz with parallel veins of silicified altered crocidolite. The gems are usually cut en cabochon, meaning with a convex, rounded surface that is polished but unfaceted, in order to best display their chatoyancy. Notable sources of tiger’s eye include the US, Canada, China, Brazil, Namibia, India and Burma. What is tiger iron? 
Thomas D’Arcy McGee was a journalist, Canadian Father of Confederation, and the only Canadian victim of political assassination at the federal level. Patrick J. Whelan, a Fenian sympathizer, was convicted and hanged for the murder, but many now suspect that he was simply a scapegoat and not the killer. The bullet that took McGee’s life had been in the possession of the Library and Archives Canada but was recently reported missing. Where was McGee murdered?