#learn your history americans

[agoodflyting]

As a former US History teacher, I do an ugly witch cackle every time an American media pundit says 'don't settle political disagreements with violence'.

America only exists because a bunch of people settled a political disagreement with violence. America has solved almost every political disagreement with violence since our inception and IT WORKS VERY WELL FOR US.

See:

The Sons of Liberty - a widespread colonial-era domestic terrorist organization that created the phrase No Taxation Without Representation and then proceeded to tar and feather tax collectors, riot, burn down public buildings, and generally use violence to protest their issues with Parliament.

"Solving issues with words is for pussies! Tar-and-feather your local tax collector!" - Patrick Henry, probably

2. The Golden Hill Riot - (1770) Local mob confronts a bunch of their own country's soldiers who are posting handbills denouncing terrorist activities in a town in New York, and it degenerates into... yep, yep, it was violence.

"Catch these fists, lawful authorities!"

3. Burning of the Gaspee - (1772) In which the government tries to limit illegal smuggling and the local people respond with patient protesting and letter writing which eventually - no, no, scratch that. They set a royal navy ship on fire.

"Limit MY illegal activities will you?" 4. The fighting at Lexington and Concord (1776)- in which a bunch of domestic terrorists responded to their lawful government's attempts to confiscate a cache of illegal weapons with (checks notes) oh look, it was violence. Lots and lots of violence. So much violence that the crown was forced to declare the entire territory to be 'in a state of rebellion'.

"ACAB!" "What is ay-cab, Patrick?" "I don't know, Hezekiah, it just felt right to yell it while firing my musket at the Crown's authorities."

In fact, the entire history of the American Revolution could be accurately summed up with the phrase: "Using violence to protest oppressive government works very well, actually."

And that's not even getting into the POST-REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

Shay's Rebellion (1786) - In protest to an economic system that was destroying the lives of poor farmers, a bunch of Revolutionary War veterans form mobs and force the debtors courts to close in several cities in Massachusetts. It leads to a full-scale insurrection that isn't immediately successful but FORCES THE FLEDGLING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO RECONVENE TO RECONSIDER ITS ECONOMIC POLICIES WHICH THEN RESULTS IN THE DRAFTING OF THE US CONSTITUTION. Violence? Working.

The Whiskey Rebellion - (1791-1794) Whiskey farmers use violence and intimidation to resist paying federal taxes on the ingredients used to make their product. The rebellion is initially put down by the Federalist government, but the tax is later repealed by Thomas Jefferson.

Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831) - Enslaved man leads an armed slave revolt in Virginia. Massacres 50-60 people in order to spread terror through the white community and to force white people to acknowledge the brutality of slavery. While the rebellion was put down, Turner's revolt achieved its goal. The state of Virginia is so afraid of more slaves catching onto this idea that they pass laws making it illegal for black people (free or enslaved) to learn to read, and requiring a white person to be present at all black-led religious services (Turner used his status as a preacher to help spread word of the rebellion) because they were so afraid of a repeat. Because violence works.

Anti-Rent War (1839) - Large scale riot, rent strike, plus some good old fashioned tarring and feathering of landowners, to protest an unfair system that protected landowners at the cost of renters in upstate New York. The leaders were put on trial, but the overall insurrection successfully forced laws to be written that protected renters from predatory landlords.

Dorr's Rebellion - (1841) A force made up mainly of poor industrial workers and Irish immigrants stage a violent rebellion against the government of Rhode Island, in order to force a repeal of the ancient laws that only allowed wealthy land-owners to vote. Previously, Rhode Island was the only state that still had laws like this and they had no intention of changing them until (checks notes) yep, until violence.

Bleeding Kansas - (1854-1859) For some stupid reason, the citizens of Kansas were being allowed to vote on whether the new state would allow or ban slavery. (Popular sovereignty amirite?) Pro-slavery people from other states started moving into Kansas in order to swing the vote the way they wanted, and they used the time-honored slavers tactic of engaging in terrorism to keep anti-slavery voters down. What started as a war of words between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces escalated to violence but instead of taking the moral high road, abolitionists like John Brown burned buildings, attacked pro-slavery newspaper offices, and even fucking massacred pro-slavery activists by hacking them to death with swords. Kansas was eventually admitted to the union as a Free State. Violence? Working.

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (1859)- John Brown is just an icon ok. Brown led a group of black and white abolitionists to steal weapons from a federal arsenal, with the intention of giving the guns to slaves to help them stage a bigger, more widespread rebellion. When the Law tried to stop them, Brown started a shootout. He was caught and executed by the state of Virginia, but after his death he became a massive folk icon and hero to abolitionists, and his death directly contributed to starting the American Civil War. John Brown's Body was a popular folk song among Union forces during the war.

I'm going to stop there because this is so so long already and I haven't even gotten to the 20th century and union wars. This is literally just 100 years of American history that I've got here. Not even half of our (already young) country's existence and we have just... the longest track record of using violence to achieve political goals.

In conclusion? Violence is not the answer. Violence is the question and the answer is Yes.

[pinescent-and-gingerbread]

Completely random question especially for my fellow American friends: What state do you canonize Arthur from?

I know it's purposely foggy in the game, especially knowing that some real States are canon and others aren't... What we know for sure is that he is from somewhere in the North and that his mother loved a certain type of flower that grew in California and Oregon (considering this dialogue he has about the flower beside his bed with Mary-Beth). Need your experienced opinion on this!!

[lelouch]

its so crazy ppl from other countries On Line have to learn english and american terminology and geography and politics but some americans will get sooo pissed off when you tell them it would be better if they learned from other countries too? insane

[egberts]

I'm just gonna start blocking people who send me essay length asks trying to argue about stupid shit because their personal experience was different

[breithenua]

So ever since the US election, I've been creating a digital archive of educational videos on YT (downloaded with Tubemate and other means), in case this administration tries to start controlling what information we can obtain or hear in the classroom or online. And well, I'm looking for help with finding YT channels devoted to subjects I as a white person have a blind spot in. I'm trying to create as wide-ranging a video archive as I can with the limited space I have on my external hard-drive (and any other storage drives I can get my hands on). So if anyone reading this would like to give suggestions for channels dedicated to subjects I may have missed, I'd be grateful.

I'll list some of my known blind spots here as an example, and try to update this post with what I already have covered later on. But to start with, here's my known blind spots:

Indigenous American history and culture (not limited to the US or even the Northern hemisphere to be clear)

African/African-American history and culture

LGBTQIA+ (I can't remember all the letters rn despite being nonbinary, I'm sorry. I promise it's not an intentional slight) history

Asian/Asian American history and culture

Learning languages other than english (and for that matter, channels that would teach those that live here but can't speak it the language as well). I have a few channels and languages archived already but I don't know what the best channels for learning each language are.

Children's education (I realized so many months into this project that nearly all of what I've got so far is more adult-oriented education)

History and culture related to religions that aren't Christianity (sorry left-wing Christians, I'm not saying your beliefs aren't important. But they aren't under threat to nearly the same extent here). This doesn't have to specifically be channels for major religions btw. "Pagan" religions like Wicca and witchcraft are welcome suggestions as well. Just make sure it isn't literal cults that brainwash their followers.

History and culture related to disability and neurodiversity (ironically I am disabled and autistic, but I'm not great at finding channels related to those things lol)

Science that isn't related to evolution, biology, geology, or nuclear power (what can I say, Kyle Hill makes great videos).

Mathematics (kill me. But distaste aside, it's still important).

Education related to art of all kinds, and the history thereof.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I'll run out of space on my external HDD before I can cover all these topics, so please understand that history, culture and the sciences are my main priorities, but other suggestions will still be welcomed.

Oh and before I forget, pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology channels are NOT welcome. I go out of my way to find channels that debunk those things as is. And obviously channels that promote hate and pseudohistory and conspiracism aren't welcome either.

P.S. I strongly encourage those who have the time and resources to create their own digital archives to do so as well. If I'm the only one doing this, we're cooked. Specialize if you want, you make the rules for your own digital archive. Point is we need to make sure that no matter what happens, people can educate themselves and their children if need be.

P.S.S. PLEASE cover your tracks with a trusted VPN if you can afford it. I used my bday money on NordVPN to cover my tracks, but there are other VPNs you can use as well. Just research carefully which ones you can trust and which you can't.

[lokigodofaces]

It sucks when you learn something new which might be the answer to a question you've had for a while but you don't even know where to start to see if it really is the answer.

[sege-h]

Like some kinda shark fin a now unrebloggable post on my dash has let me know whats going on on Twitter right now

Which is people going "UMMM NOT EVERYONE LIVES IN AMERICA OFC I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ODYSSEY IS NOT ALL OF US HAD TO READ YOUR AMERICAN BOOK IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS" about being told it kinda sucks they dont know what the Odyssey is

Brother

Brother

I'm from Macedonia. That's like NOWHERE. WE had to read the Odyssey for school. And I knew of it BEFORE we had to read it for school because it was common knowledge. There was also some multi part Hallmark adaptation of it they kept playing on TV

[florals-cardigan]

Autistic Filipino born American vent

I've kept hearing fil-ams talking about their experience of their parents refusing or teach their kids Tagalog or other Filipino language

Let me share my experience

When I was young, my mom loves to taught me and my younger brother Tagalog.

When I was diagnosed with autism by a white male psychiatrist, he encouraged my mom to not teach me or speak Tagalog to me bc it make me "confused" me when she speaks the language

Last year, when I met my new psychiatrist (who's a woc) diagnosed me a bipolar, when my told her about my diagnosis and my language, she told us that her autistic grandchild is pretty multilingual

I'm autistic and I learned several languages like Spanish (even though it got rusty since pandemic).

Now I'm having cultural crisis

[pagan-mushroom]

So today, I had to correct an American tour guide. I use that term lightly. Where I live, we have a cathedral and it has many carvings. One of which is this one. Now, I volunteer in the cathedral. I volunteer in the library. I STUDY THIS STUFF.

It is a lion attacking a gryphon. Gryphons used to be the symbol of christ until major religious upheaval and such, so the lion was used

So..

Her: and here we have a lion killing a rhino.

Me:*walks up* excuse me that's wrong.

"I beg your pardon?"

"The animal the lion is attacking is not a rhino, it is a gryphon. It has wings. Up until the 17th century in england, the gryphon was the symbol of christ. The lion came in much later. Medieval people may have been stupid by today's standards yes... but there were fairs, court fairs and drawings of rhinos dating back to the 12th century. We have the books in the cathedral library."

Woman *blinks in confusion*

Me: oh! And if you care to look on the otherside, you will see the carving of the fat lion with the Skeleton of the gryphon

SHE THOUGHT IT WAS A RHINO.

Can... can Americans please learn?

[fagdykefriendship]

just because you’re american and didn’t have like geography class or whatever doesn’t mean you’re incapable of ever looking at a world map i’m constantly baffled by americans who say that it’s bc of our school system that they don’t know where other countries are. like.

[sparklehoard]

30, 31, 35

30(already answered)

31) also already answered bur 3 facts are repeatable. 1. When I was a a kid my leg faced too far inward. The elementary school had funds for physical therapy but they over-corrected and then the funds ran out so now my right legs faces too far out in my natural stance and walk. 2. When I was 9 I was 5'9ft tall. Looking at my school photos where they made me stand with the teacher in school photos im almost a whole foot taller than the rest of my classmates. 3. I kind of stole one of those Herb growers that use solar light to grow herbs in the kitchen. My mom had it sitting in it's box for 3 years and I took it and zip tied it to my beds headboard. I've been using it to fight the winter depression and I think it's working quite well.

35. Favorite subject was art. I do love art still but looking back I kind of hated text based assignments. Having the teacher tell you yours was the most interesting to read. Having the teach use your essay in an example of a good job. And then getting it back and you got graded a c+ for grammar mistakes. Like I understand for English and language classes but it felt bad that even if you were excelling you couldn't get a decent grade for the little things as a young kid. Art was something I felt didn't hold me back in that way.

[marvelsmostwanted]

There are people – some in my own Party – who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm. I’ll ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say — almost none of those people have the experience with this President that I do. I once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most — public praise on the Sunday news shows — in return for ventilators and N95 masks during the worst of the pandemic. We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators. Going along to get along does not work – just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.

I’ve been reflecting, these past four weeks, on two important parts of my life: my work helping to build the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the two times I’ve had the privilege of reciting the oath of office for Illinois Governor.

As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.

The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.

The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.

As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.

I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.

The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.

All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.

My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.

Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most.

Sources:

• NBC Chicago & J.B. Pritzker, Democratic governor of Illinois, State of the State address 2025: Watch speech here | Full text

• Betches News on Instagram (screencaps)

[doomdoomofdoom]

I am an American Studies major. There is no further punchline required.

(Sound on.) We’re all doomed.

[shatar-aethelwynn]

adjsldjajhk I can't believe (I absolutely can) that stumbling across this song is how I learned about this bit of history. Amazing rendition of this song. Will be learning it.

[canonically47]

what do you MEAN they wouldn’t let the people vote if it meant something?? americans you live in a DEMOCRACY. do you know what a DEMOCRACY is??? it means THE PEOPLE ARE IN POWER. (from greek: “demos” = the people, “kratos” = power) your constitution starts with (to my knowledge) WE, THE PEOPLE. YOU guys are in charge. YOU guys vote. YOU ARE THE PEOPLE. GO VOTE!!!!! THAT’S YOUR FUCKING RIGHT!!!!!!!!

"If voting changed anything they wouldn't let people do it-" grabs your face THEY DIDN'T JUST "LET" PEOPLE DO IT, MOST PEOPLE COULDN'T VOTE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. PEOPLE OF COLOR ONLY GOT THE FULL RIGHT TO VOTE 50 YEARS AGO IN THE US, THATS BARELY A GENERATION.

IF IT DIDNT MATTER AT ALL WHY WOULD THEY SPEND SO MUCH TIME GERRYMANDERING THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYWHERE?? WHY CAN'T FELONS VOTE?? WHY CANT PUERTO RICO VOTE? WHY DO THEY KEEP SWITCHING DATES AND LAWS AND TIMES AND WHATEVER THEY POSSIBLY CAN TO STOP PEOPLE FROM VOTING?? WHY DO THEY MAKE EFFORT AT ALL??

BEING DISILLUSIONED IS A REASONABLE RESPONSE. BUT PEOPLE FOUGHT AND DIED AND ARE STILL FUCKING DYING FOR THAT RIGHT, DONT SPIT IN THEIR FACE.

[makingqueerhistory]

Okay, so I try hard to cover global queer history, and this isn't marking a stop to that, but I am aware that most of my audience is American, and I want to address them very directly right now.

Google Removed Pride Month From Its Calendar App, and Stonewall National Monument's "LGBTQ" status was changed to "LGB" on the government website. This is the beginning of the erasure of queer history, not the end. I don't know what the future of the United States looks like, as someone who studies queer history and has done so for many years, I want to share some tools with you.

Now is a good time to prioritize local queer history, Making Gay History is a great project, so is the Digital Transgender Archive, but also check your city and see what resources there are.

Read and buy books about queer history. I have an affiliate list with some of the books I personally recommend.

If you use Google Calendar, repopulate that resource with so much queer history with a free queer history calendar plug-in, it has names from queer history that you can also learn more about for free when they come up. As the author of these articles, feel free to save them, print them off, whatever makes them freely accessible as suppression get's worse.

Use your local library. Email the board about book bans, request banned books, request queer books, and make your voice heard.

Make queer art. Share queer art. Protect queer art. Here is some public-domain queer art to use as you wish.

Keep up with queer news, THEM is a great resource.

All of these tools are currently freely accessible with an internet connection. Queer history is a community responsibility, do your part.