American History Story Briefs

America - still a young country by world standards - began as an experiment in self-government. This collection includes stories of America's people as they follow a path of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph on the 21st of November, 1877 - and - we can hear it. The clip is the first "listenable" piece...

Edward Coke, a leading 17th-century jurist and expert on Common Law, wrote a series of works about the topic between 1628 and 1644.

U.S. astronaut Ed White was the first American to walk in space. He lifted the handle of his hatch cover, and left the safety of his spacecraft, on Ju...

Although he was a pacifist, who despised war, Albert Einstein also realized that if Hitler and his scientists were the first to discover how to build ...

This image depicts the second page of a letter - from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt - which changed the world.

Was General Eisenhower nervous or apprehensive, in any way, regarding the Normandy Invasion? He may not have expressed words, but he gives us a clue ...

You think that differing politics cause hostility now? See the results of the 1800 election in which Thomas Jefferson (a Democratic-Republican) defeat...

After South Carolina rejoined the Union, African-American males could vote. More blacks were involved in government in South Carolina than in any othe...

Returning to the Earth's atmosphere, from a journey to space, astronauts aboard the orbiter see what they call a "light show." What causes that phenom...

Ellis Island, located in New York Harbor, served as a port of entry - between 1892-1954 - for millions of European immigrants hoping for a new life in...

When Mamie Till-Bradley sees the disfigured body of her son, she orders the funeral director to put a glass top over the remains but to keep the coffi...

During the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam - for the murder of Emmett Till - Mose Wright identified the two men as the kidnappers of his great-neph...

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