Strange-but-true stories in the struggle for equality
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. The story of Tokyo Rose is the stuff of legends—an English-speaking Japanese woman who seduced the airwaves of the South Pacific with tales of Japanese success, Allied failures, and honest encouragement to give up the fight and return home. The … Continue reading The orphan called Tokyo Rose
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. It was 1906 when Upton Sinclair made the world vegetarian, at least for a little while. Sinclair's novel riled the United States and its President, Teddy Roosevelt, by revealing the unsanitary conditions under which food was made. Since 1879, over … Continue reading Bring your big stick to “The Jungle”
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Behind the barbed wire of the Japanese internment camp at Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, a few men received their orders to report for duty. It was 1944, and they had been drafted. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor … Continue reading The draft dodgers of 1944
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Each of the German victories, and there were a surprising number of these, made [Adolf Hitler] happy, but he was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from … Continue reading How to annoy Hitler
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Over a half-century ago this month, nine black students entered the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, escorted by troops of the 101st Airborne Division. The enrollment of the nine students was the historic response to the 1954 … Continue reading Eisenhower and the Little Rock Nine
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Forty-seven years ago this past Saturday, Martin Luther King, Jr., touched a nation with his inspiring words. Just six months later in February of 1964, one small but powerful word was added to the House version of the divisive Civil Rights Act. Representative Howard Smith of Virginia … Continue reading Sex…and the Civil Rights Bill
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at center. (542015 / 306-SSM-4C(51)15)This Saturday marks the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech. I was looking through ARC at the pictures of how many people participated, when I … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday: In honor of MLK
For the thousands of immigrants from Europe, the entrance to America was through Ellis Island. As they sailed by New York City, they could see the Statue of Liberty standing in the harbor like a watchful guardian. For immigrants from China and the Pacific Rim, another type of guardian awaited them in San Francisco Bay. They would … Continue reading Ellis Island on the West Coast
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Juneteenth is actually June 19, the day on which word finally made it to Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War was over and that Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves. As the story goes, these 250,000 slaves were the last … Continue reading Happy belated Juneteenth, everybody!
