America
American Revolution Ends
The Yorktown Campaign in Virginia in 1781, marked the last great military action in the American Revolution and assured that America would be a free nation.
In late summer 1781, General George Washington, in camp near New York City, learned that the British commander in the southern Colonies, Lord Charles Cornwallis, had failed to destroy the [...]
America's Love Affair With Corn
Corn has been the food of sustenance for Native Americans as far back as records can be found. Some Native Americans refer to themselves as “children of the corn.”
When European explorers and then settlers came to America, the native Indians gave them corn and showed them how to cook and eat it. The new inhabitants [...]
America's National Anthem
Just before the start of sporting events and conventions around America, children and adults stand and sing — usually off-key — the “Star Spangled Banner,” America’s national anthem.
The song was written by Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer, during the War of 1812. Key was watching a British attack on Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and [...]
America's Wild West Outlaws
The years following the Civil War were a time of great unrest. It was an era that gave rise to the Western outlaws. They were bandits, gunfighters, and rustlers — men guilty of a thousand crimes — but they were also to become an important part of American folklore.
American Buffalo: King Of The Prairie
In May 1894, Congress outlawed the hunting of buffalo in Yellowstone Park. This was the first step by the United States government toward protecting an animal that earlier American settlers had tried to eliminate.
Before white people arrived, buffalo were abundant on the plains and prairies. Indian storytellers recall the days when a person could ride [...]
America's Bicentennial: 1776 – 1976
America threw herself a grand birthday party on July 4, 1776, as she turned 200 years old. In 1776, America got the Declaration of Independence as her first birthday present. In 1976, America gave herself many parades, firework displays, pie-eating contests, and a pat-on-the-back for preserving the government in the face of many perils over [...]
America In World War I
Saying that “the world must be made safe for democracy,” President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress on April 2, 1917 to declare war on Germany. Congress voted ‘yes’ and America entered into the “Great War,” later called World War I.
Alcatraz: The Rock In The Bay
We may never know for sure if anybody has ever escaped from the 12-acre island penitentiary of Alcatraz. While most of those who attempted to do so were shot or drowned in the San Francisco Bay, Frank Lee Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin successfully made their way to the edge of the water on [...]
Alaska: The Last Frontier
CAPITAL: Juneau
JOINED UNION: January 3, 1959
STATE BIRD: Willow Ptarmigan
STATE FLOWER: Forget-me-not
MEANING OF STATE NAME: Based on Eskimo word “Alakshak” meaning “great lands” or “peninsula”
1992 POPULATION: 586,872
RANK FOR POPULATION: 48
LAND AREA: 570,373 square miles
Alamo: Torn Over Texas
By 1830, more than 20,000 Americans were living and growing cotton in Texas on land that belonged to Mexico. These Americans had about 2,000 slaves to work the cotton, even though Mexico outlawed slavery. When the Texans’ request to separate from Mexico was denied, they decided to secede.