Hey Pandas, What's A Historical Event That More People Should Be Aware Of?

The 1921 Tulsa, OK massacre. One of the wealthiest Black Business districts in the country was destroyed in a matter of hours as White racists descended on Greenwood Avenue. The actual number of people killed may never be known. Some of the attackers were farmers who used crop-dusting airplanes to drop bombs on innocent people in the street. They specifically targeted Black WWI veterans for torture and murder.

That New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote - 1893. They couldn't stand as candidates until later but they could vote in national elections. Another innovation was the provision of a set number of Maori seats in Parliament, so the First Nations had a voice in decisions. I understand that those seats no longer exist. New Zealand has been an innovative country in many ways for such a small nation.

The radium girls of 1917-1935. Most people don't know or have heard about this tragic event. Back in the day, people used radium as an everyday accessory, medications like pills, and skin care. When Marie Curie found this phenomenon, it blew up across the world. Newspapers talking about the wonders Radium could do you for. People went out to buy watches, facial creams, perfume and paints filled with this substance. But people never thought about who was painting these watches and dials. The Radium Girls sat in a large factory room at tables, sitting for hours following the same, lethal rules: Lip, Dip, Paint. To shape the paintbrush with your lips, then to dip the brush into the radium paints, and then to paint the dials. After a while, the true horrors of this element awoke in the girl's eyes. It all would start with maybe an ache of the jaw, or a toothache. Dentist visits, doctors, nobody could stop the ache. Doctors pulled out teeth from the aching area hoping to stop the infection, but it didn't do much, since the radium was eating away at their bones. Eventually even pieces of the jaw would fall out. Mollie Magia, the very first woman to die, Was at the hospital after months on end of this unbearable pain, when one morning she was sitting with a nurse when her mouth started to flood with blood, choking her to death. Even after her death, radium devoured her bones. After lots of death and pain, The Radium Girls fought back against the companies. They won, eventually. To find out more just search up the radium girls and i will leave you there.

The massive Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939. People like to say that America was completely anti-nazi the entire time. In reality, many Americans agreed with Hitler and his beliefs. America was rife with belief in eugenics, anti semitism, and racism. It wasn't until the bombing of Pearl Harbor that these people started to turn on Hitler.

American history is stained by fascist beliefs, yet we rarely hear about it. It's ignored and erased. We must teach about the reality of America at that time, so we never forget. And we must never forget so that we never repeat.

The Nakba.

Translating to "the catastrophe", the Nakba happened in 1948 when Israel and its neighboring countries went to war. As Israeli forces moved through Palestine to secure the land for their promised Jewish state, many Palestinians throughout the region fled their homes, villages, and towns to escape the violence. The Israeli forces killed many Palestinians that remained, even burning some Palestinian villages. There are still many Nakba refugees around the world who hold onto the keys to their homes in Palestine, hoping to return someday.

The film "Farha" depicts events of the Nakba, based on a Nakba refugee's personal story. The film is under scrutiny from many right-wing Israelis who either deny that the Nakba happened or that the Israeli forces did anything wrong.

A lot of people don't know about the Rwandan genocide. 7 April-15 July 1994. We all learn about the holocaust, and rightfully so. But between 450,000 and 800,000 were killed in Rwanda in just over a 4 month span. Watch Hotel Rwanda if you are interested. It's an amazing movie. I didn't know about the genocide until I watched that movie until I was almost an adult, and most people I talk to don't know about it.

The amazing, humanity-saving work of Stanislav Petrov, in 83, who decided to not follow orders and thus not launch a massive nuclear counter-strike against a falsely reported US missile launch. See also Abel Archer (also in 83), the second closest the world has come to nuclear annihilation after that. Neither are cheery, but we were literally two decisions by single people within a two month span from having our shadows burnt into the pavement.

Belgian Congo genocide by the Belgians, 1885-1960. About 10m Africans dead for rubber and similar. Brutal treatment of locals; hand amputations, death of whole villages, etc. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/the-worst-belgian-colonial-atrocities-that-congolese-can-t-forget-57839

Stonewall. I know it's well known, but it still needs to be recognised more.

Hadrian’s Wall. The fact that the Romans occupied the UK for ages and built a wall to keep out the natives. SO much time and energy is spent on British kings and queens, no one really talks about the fact the Romans had a sewer system in London before British tribes got their s**t together. The first king was in 927 AD Aethelstand, the wall was built in 122 AD.

The erasure of culture that occurred when Africans were captured and enslaved. They had music, history, engineering, medicine, gods, and innumerable other things that were simply cut off.

The USA Japanese internment camps during WW2. Over 125,000 lost everything, were arrested and sent to camps. They never got their possessions, homes or businesses back. There are still survivors alive today, the amazing George Takai is one of them. I am constantly amazed by someone who has faced so much hate can be such an amazing caring person and not jaded.

The Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire. Occurred the same day (October 6, 1871) as the Great Chicago Fire.1500-2500 people died, the fire burned 1.2 million acres and it is the deadliest wildfire in recorded history! The Chicago fire had 300 deaths and burned 3.3 squared miles as comparison, yet you probably have never heard of the Peshtigo Fire .

The Battle of Hayes Pond, where the Lumbee Tribe thwarts an attempt by the KKK to establish chapter in their town.

https://nativeamericatoday.com/the-battle-of-hayes-pond/

Stolen Generations and the Assimilation Act. The Australian government has committed and sanctioned atrocities against Aboriginal people and the hurt is still felt through generational trauma.

Operation Gunnerside. It denied Hitler the materials needed to produce an atomic bomb before we did.

August 11 and 12, 2017, Charlottesville. It's not long ago but people already have forgotten that dozens were injured, one died, and it was over what? Removing a hunk of bronze. History won't be changed if you remove a statue (does anyone in Germany not know about Hitler just b/c he has no statues?!).... but history apparently can be made. Lawsuits still embroil the statue six years later. For real, when you think your left-leaning area is safe? Charlottesville was/is very left. And it got invaded by haters from around the nation. Over a statue of a guy who died over 150 years ago and fought against the US. It's absurd. It's insane. We don't put up statues of bin-Laden. And, in battle alone, armies under the statue guy? Killed more *in battle* (not wounded, not captured, not illness, battlefield deaths alone) than the whole 20 years in A-stan did to the US in battle. Think about that. Then ask why these statues were ever put up. You learn a LOT about the hidden history of the United States.

The Salem Witch Trials.

Not only were countless people murdered just for their beliefs, but even more were executed just to gain property. It was one of the biggest tragedies that happened in North America and is still not widely taught in schools...

The Thermidorian Reaction (France, 1794). Basically a bunch of (what would now be considered) war criminals and suspected fraudsters got together in the government to stage a coup and execute the people trying to hold them accountable without trial. When one of the non-corrupt officials missed work, the others spread rumors about him, got him killed, and basically slandered him and blamed him for a lot of things he didn't do. This is the origin of the dictator-Robespierre myth. Robespierre was actually against the death penalty for the most part and tried to get it abolished, and never signed a single death warrant (he was not even on that committee). But the myths spread to Britain and America and by the time the real records were found, the damage was already done. At least one of the conspirators admitted what he'd done and expressed regret later in life.

Boudicca. She's was the Icini Queen, a Celtic tribe in Roman Occupied Britian. While the Romans were good to their people and they were great engineers that brought their innovations wherever they went, people need to remember that all the countries they occupied across Europe, Africa and Asia were not their people. They were nearly a means to an end across an ever growing empire

Boudicca was born in 30AD, almost 100 years before Hadrian's Wall went up in 122AD. She was married to a Tribe Prince who had strong warriors while her tribe had access to one of England's wealthiest Silver Mines. So together there were an amazing force. The Romans Invaded England in 43AD while Boudicca was in her early teens. They marched a slow campaign upwards through the country and got to Boudicca's Icini Tribe a bit later. By this time Boudicca had 3 daughters all as beautiful as she was. Boudicca was smart, she knew the Romans were fierce warriors with a lot of numbers and if they went to war with them straight away then she, her family and her people would be slaughtered so she convinced her husband to stand down peacefully and let the Romans go past them. This gave the Roman Soldiers in England a bit of an Ego. One day some Drunk Soldiers strolled into their tribe. Boudicca's husband went out to greet them and was killed on the spot. Boudicca was then taken by surprise and being as beautiful as she was they had their way with her and her three daughters. Her daughters did not survive but Boudicca did. She was furious that the foreigners she let into her home did that to her and she started a revolt, numbers be damned. Boudicca banded together a few sympathetic tribes and burnt Colchester, London and another place who's name I don't know how to spell or what it's called today before being stopped in the West Midlands and killed in 61AD, at 31 years old. She was the first of many reasons why Emperor Nero wanted to pull out of England and build Hadrian's Wall to keep the Saxons in Scotland while they ran away

Today Boudicca has a Statue in London but if you ask people who that is then only a few people oils tell you that is Boudicca, the Icini Queen. Most won't know which is a shame. In England she's a figure for Justice and Independence and a heroine