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."

Cowboys of the "Old West" sang songs about their work (and the trouble they got into). This is an example.

Christmas Island, located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of northwest Australia, is the top of an underwater mountain.

On the 14th of October, 1947, Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager flew an airplane at speeds which reached Mach 1.

A month after the great 1906 quake, George Lawrence sends a series of kites aloft. He attaches his camera to the lowest kite and, from the air, photo...

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was intended to provide protection for African-Americans.  The United States Supreme Court, however, found it to be ...

Religious leaders in Cleveland protest the buidling of a segregated school, but a deadly accident fails to stop its construction.

Although the Supreme Court was very busy, during the last part of the 19th century, the Justices overturned a key law providing civil-rights protectio...

Even before the Civil War was over, President Lincoln wanted an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which freed slaves throughout the country. The Amen...

America's Civil War significantly impacted Missouri, then a ''Slave State'' (but one that remained in the Union). Refugees, from Missouri's northern-b...

One of Australia's most popular writers - before he died in 1938 - was given a very long name at birth: Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis.

Darrow was one of America's best trial lawyers of the 20th century. He often took-on cases which everyone thought he'd lose - then - he'd get a verdi...

Clement Clark Moore, author of the now-famous "Night Before Christmas," published his poem on December 23, 1823 in the "Troy Sentinel" newspaper.

Show tooltips