Native American Heritage Month

The first general American Indian Day was observed on the second Saturday in May 1916. Since 1995, the month of November has been observed as American Indian Heritage Month. Although the largest Native American populations can be found in Oklahoma, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and North Carolina, many other states have come up with ways to draw attention to their unique contribution to American culture. Most celebrations focus on educational and promotional events, displays of Native American art and dance, and agricultural fairs. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

W. C. Handy (1873)

Largely self-taught, Handy was American songwriter and band leader who began his career as a cornet player in a minstrel show in 1896. He later organized various small bands and was among the first to publish blues sheet music, rising to prominence with his Memphis Blues. In 1918, he moved from Memphis to New York City and remained active as a writer and publisher of music, in spite of growing blindness, until shortly before his death. What are some of Handy’s most famous songs? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Four Humors

In the 3rd century BCE, Hippocrates introduced his theory of Humoralism. It was based on the notion that 4 fluids, each corresponding to one of the 4 elements, permeate the human body and cause disease when not in balance. Theories regarding the 4 humors—blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm—expanded over the years, and in the 2nd century CE, Galen published a treatise which associated a specific temperament with each humor. What humor was thought to cause a melancholic disposition? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Clutter Family Murdered (1959)

In 1959, parolees Richard Hickock and Perry Smith murdered Herbert and Bonnie Clutter and their two children while attempting to rob their Kansas farmhouse. Writer Truman Capote spent the next five years researching the crime and interviewing those involved, including Hickock and Smith, who were hanged for the murders in 1965. Capote’s In Cold Blood was published shortly thereafter and launched the nonfiction novel genre. What famous author traveled to Kansas with Capote? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

La Quintaine

St. Leonard, the patron saint of prisoners, is honored each year in the French town of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat by a ceremony in which 30 men carry the quintaine, a three-foot-high box painted to resemble a prison, to the church to be blessed. Afterward, they mount it on a post and strike it with mallets as they gallop by on horseback. Fragments of the smashed quintaine are said to bring good luck and to make hens lay eggs. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Erwin Rommel (1891)

After nearly three decades in the German army, Rommel, who would become a famous WWII field marshal, was promoted by Hitler to the rank of general in 1939. The next year, he brilliantly commanded a panzer division in the attack on France. He then led the Afrika Korps against the Allies in N Africa, where he became known as the “Desert Fox” for his audacious surprise attacks. Allied success led Rommel to lose respect for Hitler and join a plot to remove the führer from office. How did Rommel die? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Satellite Radio

A satellite radio is a digital radio that receives signals broadcast by communications satellites. Since satellite radio operates wherever there is line of sight between the antenna and satellite, the signal spans a much wider geographical range than terrestrial radio. Satellite radio service is subscription-based and can only be accessed through specialized receivers. How many satellites are generally needed to provide service to an entire continent? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

First Shipboard Aircraft Takeoff (1910)

A year after learning to fly, aviator Eugene Ely performed an experiment for the US Navy: he took off from a temporary platform built over the bow of the USS Birmingham, anchored off Virginia’s coast, and became the first person to take off from a ship in a fixed-wing aircraft. Two months later, he performed the first shipboard landing, using the first tailhook system to land on the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay, California. He died less than a year later while doing what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary