Most people associate slavery in America with the southern states, but slavery very much existed in the North as well. In Manhattan in the early 1700s, the number of black slaves was nearly equal to that of free whites (Gilbert,… Read More
During the Revolutionary War, as many as half of the enslaved African adult males in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia fled their masters to fight on the side of the British, believing they had a better chance at freedom than… Read More
The Mason-Dixon line was created by scientists Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who were surveying the wilderness between Pennsylvania and Maryland to settle a boundary dispute. Later it became the boundary between slave and free states.
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Bill Bryson, A… Read More
Thomas Crapper did not invent the modern toilet. But he was a very good plumber who improved upon the technology with several refinements to the design.