Month: June 2024

Pontiac's Rebellion: Ojibwas Capture Fort Michilimackinac (1763)

In 1763, immediately after the French and Indian Wars, several Native American tribes allied against the British in an uprising that became known as Pontiac’s Rebellion, after the Ottawa leader Pontiac. They captured and destroyed many British outposts. On the day of the surprise attack on Fort Michilimackinac, the Ojibwas, or Chippewas, approached the fort without arousing suspicion among the watching British soldiers by staging a game of baaga’adowe—the precursor of what modern sport? Discuss

Edward Elgar (1857)

Elgar was an English composer whose oratorio The Dream of Gerontius is considered one of the finest examples of English choral music in history. He received his training from his father and succeeded him as organist of St. George’s Church, Worcester, in 1885. He earned recognition for his Imperial March, composed in 1897 for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee, and for his Enigma Variations. His most popular works are his five marches, the first of which is what famous song? Discuss

Labyrinths

A labyrinth is an intricate building of chambers and interconnecting passages often constructed so as to perplex and confuse a person inside. The most celebrated structure of this sort was designed, according to Greek mythology, by the Athenian artisan Daedalus to confine the Minotaur, a monster with a bull’s head and a man’s body. Theseus, an Athenian hero, entered the beast’s labyrinth to slay it. How did he find his way out of the maze after killing the Minotaur? Discuss

Farhud Begins (1941)

During the Farhud, the pogrom carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad after the fall of the short-lived pro-Nazi government of Rashid Ali, rioters killed about 200 Jews and injured hundreds more. It took place during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and, according to some, marked a turning point for Iraq’s 150,000 Jews, who were thereafter targeted for persecution. Jews had lived in Iraq since about 600 BCE, but by 1951, 80% had left. How many Jews are thought to live in Baghdad now? Discuss

John Marshall Harlan (1833)

After commanding a Union regiment in the American Civil War, Harlan served as a state attorney general before being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877. During his tenure, which lasted until his death in 1911, he became the court’s outstanding liberal justice and one of the most forceful dissenters in its history. His best-known dissenting opinion came in Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Supreme Court established what infamous doctrine? Discuss

Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a therapeutic treatment in which an electric current is passed through the brain, inducing seizures and alterations in the brain’s electrical activity. It is used to treat certain mental disorders and is generally employed only after other therapies have proven ineffective. ECT can cause memory loss and bone fractures, and there is much controversy surrounding its use and effectiveness. Who are some of the noted actors and writers who have undergone ECT? Discuss