History

It can sometimes seem that the men and women of yore were more couth and classy, less abrasive and loud, than humans today. If you’re seen Hamilton (you’ve seen Hamilton, right?), then you know that’s not true. They definitely told each other to f%ck off, they just did it with classier words most of the time. Here are 12...

If you’re someone who enjoys history, then you know that, pretty much since the beginning of time, people haven’t really changed all that much. Historical folks are just as big of smarta$ses as we are today, and whoo boy, there have been some totally classy, but totally harsh, middle fingers thrown threw the ages. Here...

An old wive’s tale is a belief or superstition that widely believed but generally understood to be untrue. A lot of us have believed an old wive’s tale since childhood without even knowing how or why we heard it in the first place. Here are 13 popular old wive’s tales and why we should probably...

Racism has permeated nearly every American institution since the country’s beginnings—even its medical community. In September 1932, officials from the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) recruited 600 Black men into a medical study to treat what they called “bad blood.” The men were eager to take part, as they were poor sharecroppers who had never...

World War II still casts a long shadow over humanity, and for good reason. The war saw some of the worst atrocities that humans have committed. Since so many people are always talking about the war, and since so much of it was documented, you’d think that we would all be a little better at...

The idea of “fake news” might feel like a modern invention, but that’s not exactly true. As long as there have been people, there’s been misinformation. There are a lot of ways to try to combat fake news as it spreads around the world, but these days it can feel impossible to stay ahead of...

The Salem Witch Trials took place in Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than two hundred people were accused of being witches, and 30 of them were found guilty. Of those 30, 19 people were hanged. There are a lot of theories about how the trials came to be in the first place....

However you feel about warfare and fighting, it’s difficult to deny that people have definitely come up with some pretty incredible battle tactics. People are especially inventive during the Medieval Period or Middle Ages. This Tumblr thread breaks down a few of the more powerful, surprising, and downright fierce Medieval battle tactics that existed. For...