Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer started her life as the 20th child of Mississippi sharecroppers and ended it as a leader and a hero for civil and voting rights. She started picking cotton alongside her family at the age of six, and was forced to leave school when she was 12 in order to work full time.
Read MorePlague doctors were scary guys in dark robes and long, beaked masks under hats ... right? Here's what it was really like being a plague doctor.
Read MoreThe 1970s defined themselves slowly. Here are some of the things people get wrong about the 1970s-even people who lived through them.
Read MoreThey married on March 5, 1876, when Wild Bill was 39 and Lake was 50. The not-so-young couple didn't get to spend much time together.
Read MoreIn reality, Revere didn't complete the whole ride, wrote Smithsonian Magazine. Nor was he the only rider. He was, however, a real person. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, he was a silversmith and engraver, as well as an American revolutionary.
Read MoreTornadoes start with thunderstorms, which require a combination of warm, moist air near the surface and relatively cold, dry air up higher.
Read MoreHad Chuck Norris actually been married to his Total Gym co-spokesperson Christie Brinkley, as the internet likes to tell you, it would have been pretty awkward when his real wife, Gena, had a cameo in one of their exercise equipment infomercials in 2009.
Read MoreJames' professional football career started when the St. Louis Rams selected James during the second round, 35th pick of the 2009 NFL Draft.
Read MoreIt's perhaps the most famous sidewalk in the world, but not many people know the true history of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, even though it has some very interesting tales to be told. Here is the history of the Hollywood Walk of Fame explained.
Read MoreThe wrestling world took a big hit this week when Joseph Michael Laurinaitis -- better known as WWE Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal -- passed away at the age of 60. According to TMZ, the second half of the legendary Road Warriors team, considered "one of the best of all," died of natural causes.
Read MoreArising into creation as a synthesis of untrimmed wheat fields, trailer parks, and shattered Mich Ultra bottles, Kid Rock emerged into the nu-metal scene of the late '90s with his own, distinctive, Confederate take on the era's rock-rap surge.
Read MoreStevie Nicks, legendary solo artist and member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac, has lived hard in her five-decade career.
Read MoreZika is a mosquito-borne virus illness that is spread through a common type of mosquito. Here is what you need to know about the history of Zika virus.
Read MorePetty's friendship with Harrison actually goes much deeper than just making music. The two forged a deep, lasting friendship from the moment they first met, almost like brothers. Petty's biographer said that "no matter how corny it might sound, they were kind of falling in love with each other."
Read MoreSharp, loyal, savage, and obedient, Grese quickly rose in rank out of 170 female SS staff to become the warden of the women's camp, which had 30,000 women in 62 barracks. The barracks were the epitome of squalor and disease, and Grese compounded this suffering many times over.
Read MoreMarketed first through a series of late-night infomercials, pretty soon it seemed as though every house -- and office -- had a Magic Bullet. Its compact design allowed people to make a smoothie in their blender and then carry the whole tumbler with them to work.
Read MoreThe fable originated with "one of Washington's first biographers, an itinerant minister and bookseller named Mason Locke Weems." When Washington died in 1799, Weems immediately saw an opportunity to fulfill the American public's desire to learn more about the founding father.
Read MoreMERS, also known as MERS-CoV, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, is a virus transferred to humans from infected animals -- in this case, dromedary camels, the ones with one hump. MedicalNewsToday reports that MERS-CoV was first discovered in Saudi Arabia September 20, 2012.
Read MoreThe necromancers of our favorite fantasy games and stories were based on some very real practices. This is the crazy history of necromancy explained.
Read MoreFrom afar, the clump looks like debris floating on top of the water, but upon closer inspection, you can see that it's made up of what looks like hundreds of insects clinging for dear life. If the visual of ants happily floating along doesn't scare you, congratulations. What a brave person you are.
Read MoreAccidents claim the lives of researchers across the globe, even today.
Read MoreQueen Elizabeth I had to think very carefully about how she presented herself. She had to appear powerful in order to uphold her royal status and push back against the stereotype of a weak woman, alone and unfit to rule. This is the truth about Queen Elizabeth I's iconic look.
Read MoreTake a second to think about all the things you could do with $110 million. For most people, that number might as well be infinity. Is it even possible to squander over a hundred million bucks in one lifetime, let alone a few years? Ask Antoine Walker.
Read MoreDestiny's Child as most people know it, comprised of Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams, started off with different members. One of those former members is LaTavia Roberson. Roberson joined Destiny's Child in the '90s, when it was still called Girl's Tyme.
Read MoreDuring the SARS outbreak that ended in 2003, more than 8,000 people had become sick, with 774 deaths.
Read MoreMichael Jackson had a huge 1983. He sold millions of copies of his album Thriller and starred in one of the most popular, famous, and well-produced music videos of all time. This is the untold truth of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.
Read MoreBefore the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, there were few people in this world closer to him than bandmate Dave Grohl and Cobain's wife, Courtney Love. Who knows how close Grohl and Love were to each other before Cobain's passing? But after Cobain's death, things got pretty heated.
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