#1 By The 1930s Hattie Mcdaniel Was One Of The Most Recognizable Black Women In Radio
Then came Gone with the Wind in 1939.
Her performance as Mammy was commanding, intelligent, and unsparing. She gave the character authority the script did not always offer. When she won the Academy Award in 1940, she became the first Black actor to ever receive one.
#2 Tony Bennett Reignited A Global Love For Classic Vocals. And At An Age When Most Entertainers Retired, Tony Stood Onstage With Lady Gaga
#3 By The Time Mayim Bialik Was Nineteen, Hollywood Executives Were Already Discussing How To Reshape Her Body, Soften Her Intellect, And Age Her Just Fast Enough To Be Marketable
And the backlash followed immediately.
She was called difficult. Cold. Unlikable. Too much. Too rigid. The exact labels handed to women who step outside the upgrade pipeline but still expect a seat at the table.
The internet has changed so much, it's hard to recognize it sometimes.
Forbes, reporting on the 2024 Imperva Bad Bot report, states that bots now account for nearly half of all internet traffic around the world, with human user traffic dropping to just 50.4%. So-called ‘bad bots’ are responsible for a whopping third of all traffic.
"Automated bots will soon surpass the proportion of internet traffic coming from humans, changing the way that organizations approach building and protecting their websites and applications. As more AI-enabled tools are introduced, bots will become omnipresent. Organizations must invest in bot management and API security tools to manage the threat from malicious, automated traffic," explained Nanhi Singh, the general manager for application security at Imperva.
#4 By 1973 Shirley Ann Jackson Earned Her Doctorate In Physics, Becoming The First Black Woman In Mit’s History To Do So
#5 Mary-Claire King Told The Medical World In The 1970s That Breast Cancer Could Be Inherited
At the time, cancer research leaned heavily on environment and chance. Suggesting inheritance raised dangerous implications. If a single gene could predict cancer, doctors would have to confront prevention, early surgery, and life-altering decisions for women who were still healthy. Many preferred uncertainty
#6 Muhammad Ali Gave Up The Heavyweight Championship, Millions Of Dollars, And His Freedom At Age 25 Because The U.S. Government Asked Him To Fight Overseas While Denying Him Dignity At Home
The cost was immediate and measurable. The World Boxing Association stripped his title within hours. Athletic commissions banned him from fighting. Promoters vanished. At his peak earning power, Ali lost an estimated $5 million in fight purses between 1967 and 1970. He faced up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. America did not applaud. It condemned him.
In this day and age, with so much misinformation, bias, and fake news spreading online, it’s more important now than ever to see the difference between reliable and unreliable sources, facts, and claims. Proper media literacy ensures that you’re not manipulated (well, as much as this can be accomplished).
Broadly speaking, reliable sources tend to value transparency, honesty, and objectivity. Unreliable sources, on the other hand, are highly subjective, secretive, often have an agenda, and present opinions as facts.
#7 Dorothy Dandridge Became The First Black Woman Nominated For The Academy Award For Best Actress
#8 In 1870 Victoria Woodhull And Her Sister Tennessee Opened Woodhull, Claflin And Company, The First Female Run Brokerage Firm In The History Of Wall Street
#9 Elizabeth Taylor Signed Film Contracts So Powerful They Forced Hollywood To Rewrite How Actresses Were Paid And Studios Hated Her For It
Trustworthy outlets try to back up their claims, either by mentioning or linking to the sources that inform their claims, and are always willing to correct their mistakes.
Untrustworthy outlets, however, don’t care about genuine facts. They’re either very secretive about where they get their information from, or they intentionally misinterpret data for the sake of whatever agenda they’re pushing.
#10 Mary Edwards Walker Walked Onto A Civil War Battlefield In Trousers And A Surgeon’s Coat, Knowing Capture And Disgrace Were More Likely Than Gratitude
She stayed there for four months.
She was never proven guilty of espionage. She was exchanged only because the Union insisted she was a medical officer in everything but paperwork. When she was released, she returned to work immediately. No retreat. No apology.
#11 Phil Collins Sang Some Of The Most Joyful Songs On Earth While His Body Quietly Collapsed Underneath Him
It got worse. Years of strain caused a condition called drop foot, linked to the spinal damage. By 2014, Phil Collins could barely stand for extended periods. He fell multiple times at home and on tour. In 2017, he performed shows sitting down, his son Nic Collins playing drums behind him.
#12 Barbara Jordan Became The First Black Woman Elected To The Texas Senate Since Reconstruction
Of course, you have to be realistic about how much time and effort you can put into verifying claims, checking facts, and putting sources under the microscope. Most people have tons of responsibilities (work, studies, chores, family, hobbies, social life, exercise, travel, etc.) that take up most of their day.
So, instead of double-checking and cross-referencing every specific claim you come across (which you can still do), you can save time by focusing on the reliability of the source that shares that claim. While no news source is ever ‘perfect,’ they are not all made the same.
There is a vast abyss between random, bot-like, provocative social media accounts pushing a particular agenda and trustworthy news outlets with rigorous editorial standards and a history of objectivity and fact-checking.
#13 Tip O’neill Was Sitting In His Cambridge Living Room In 1974 When A Federal Judge Delivered A Warning About The Unfolding Watergate Crisis
Privately, he told colleagues that the evidence against President Richard Nixon was already overwhelming.
Publicly, he insisted Congress follow procedure and not vengeance.
He read transcripts, questioned staffers, and built consensus for a fair impeachment process.
He believed the nation needed clarity more than speed.
#14 Dick Cavett Sat Under Studio Lights In The Late 1960s, Slim Tie Perfectly Straight, Asking Questions No Late-Night Host Was Supposed To Ask
He later admitted he could barely breathe during tapings. “I was as nervous as a man could be and still function,” Cavett said. Medication kept him upright. Fear kept him honest.
#15 Walter Lantz Repaired Cars To Earn Money For Art Classes As A Teenager. By Twenty He Was Animating Silent Film Gags, Adding Humor To Worlds Without Sound
Another thing to consider is how certain ‘facts’ or claims make you feel. Untrustworthy sources often like to play with your emotions because it’s easier to manipulate the audience that way. They often over-dramatize events, over-generalize, provoke outrage, and make things seem world-shattering, even if they’re rather mundane.
#16 In The Early 1950s, When Late Night Television Barely Existed, Steve Allen Took Control Of A Loose, Undefined Time Slot
His comedy baffled executives. He refused predictable laughs. He played with language, logic, and absurdity that trusted the audience to keep up. Viewers stayed because they felt included rather than instructed. Steve made intelligence conversational, not elite
#17 Being Jewish In 1930s America Meant Carrying Insults As Regularly As Equipment. But Hank Greenberg Signed With The Detroit Tigers
#18 During The French Revolution Elizabeth Monroe, Wife Of President James Monroe, Walked Straight Into La Petite Force Prison To Visit Adrienne De Lafayette
The moment became legend. Parisians began calling Elizabeth the heroine of Lafayette’s salvation
On top of that, you have to think about the complexity of the information that you’re reading. Real life, unlike fiction, is often much greyer and less clear-cut than what you see on the silver screen, in fantasy books, and in video games.
There are rarely any situations and events where things are perfectly black-and-white, with clear valorous heroes and moustache-twirling villains.
#19 In 1968 With Bullitt Peter Yates Constructed A Car Chase That Did Not Rely On Explosions Or Chaos
#20 In The 1950s Jack Paar Took Over The Tonight Show And Detonated The Format. He Treated Late Night Not As Filler Before Sleep, But As Conversation Worth Attention
