Here Are 17 Historical Events Most People Weren't Taught In School But Should Definitely Know About
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I don't know about you, but ever since Watchmen premiered in 2019 and Regina King decided to educate us all on the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, I have been obsessed with learning about other parts of history that were left out of school curricula.
HBO Max / Via giphy.com
So here are 17 historical events you probably weren't taught growing up:
1.When Claudette Colvin became the actual first person to give up her seat on the bus.
History classes in school taught us that Rosa Parks was one of the initial sparks for the civil rights movement after refusing to give up her seat on the bus. While this is true, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was actually the first to refuse to give up her seat on the bus to a white woman, on March 22, 1955 — nine months before Parks — and was arrested.
2.Los Desaparecidos (the Disappeared).
In September 1973, Chile's then-president, Salvador Allende, was overthrown in a coup assisted by the US government, and Gen. Augusto Pinochet took control. Pinochet was a violent leader who wanted to instill fear in anyone who opposed him. Journalists, politicians, celebrities, and any others who publicly opposed him were known to suddenly disappear. Some were later found dead in alleyways or ditches throughout Santiago, the capital, while others were never found. Pinochet frequently used the National Stadium as a secret detention center where he rounded up those who opposed him and tortured or killed them. Around 40,000 people were tortured during his 17-year regime, and at least 3,200 were killed or disappeared.
3.The role of Native American code talkers in World War I and World War II.
During World War I, many Native Americans from around 26 tribes were enlisted to fight on the Allies' side. German troops were extremely adept at intercepting and interpreting the Allies' code. On Oct. 26, 1918, Choctaw soldiers were stationed as code talkers at field company headquarters. The Choctaw language was largely unknown to German troops, and the Allies were finally at an advantage. Once the tactic proved successful, the Allies began employing other Native soldiers.
In World War II, Native Americans were specifically recruited for the war as code talkers. The most complex code was developed by the Navajo and contained over 600 terms. It was used in the Pacific theater (the portion of the war fought in Asia).
4.The 1871 Chinese massacre in Los Angeles.
On Oct. 24, 1871, a mob of 500 men raided Chinatown in Los Angeles, killing at least 20 Chinese Americans and stealing an estimated $1.5 million worth of property. The killings were in response to a shootout that had taken place the same day that killed police Officer Robert Thompson. The shootout caused a commotion, and people began shouting that the Chinese were killing white people, so chaos ensued. It was the start of a decade of violence against Asian American communities in the US and led to the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers.
5.The start of the Tuskegee syphilis study in 1932.
In 1932, Black men in Macon County, Alabama, volunteered to undergo "special treatment" for "bad blood." They had seen signs in their neighborhood claiming that the government and county Health Department would treat them. What they didn't know was that they were actually signing up to be part of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. There were 399 Black men who were diagnosed with syphilis and made to believe they would receive treatment for any symptoms of their "bad blood." Doctors in the area were told not to treat those in the study, but examined them to observe their symptoms. The experiment lasted 40 years.
6.The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
In May 1921, a Black teenager named Dick Rowland was riding in an elevator with a white woman, Sarah Page, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There are various accounts of what happened in the elevator, but at some point the woman screamed and Rowland was arrested the next morning. Rumors began to spread that Rowland had sexually assaulted Page, the story becoming more exaggerated as it circulated, and angry white mobs began to form. For the next 18 hours, white mobs began flooding into Tulsa's Greenwood District — which was considered the Black Wall Street of the time — burning, shooting, vandalizing, and terrorizing Black homes, businesses, and people. It is estimated around 300 people were killed, and countless more lost their livelihood as their homes and businesses were burned to the ground.
7.The 1982 killing of Vincent Chin.
In the early 1980s, tensions were rising between white and Asian American communities as white autoworkers began to feel that the auto industry was being taken over by Japan. Vincent Chin was a 27-year-old Chinese American draftsperson who was celebrating his bachelor party on June 19, 1982, at a Detroit strip club when two white men bludgeoned him to death. The federal trial of the two men, convicted of manslaughter, was the first civil rights trial for an Asian American.
8.The Armenian genocide of 1915.
Like many genocides throughout history, this one started because of religious disputes. Armenia became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. Armenia was primarily a Christian country, which displeased Ottoman leaders and resulted in mistreatment of Christian Armenians, who were often taxed more heavily and given fewer rights. When Armenians began to protest, Turkish military officials began killing hundreds of thousands of Armenian people. The massacres began in 1896, but it was in 1914, after the Turks entered World War I on the side of the Germans, that the mass genocide began. Military leaders felt that Armenians were traitors, and on April 24, 1915, they executed hundreds of Armenian leaders, which only led to more violence against the Armenian people, which continued until 1922. More than 1 million Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1922.
9.The Acadian expulsion.
The Acadian people (French descendants) had settled in Novia Scotia in 1604. In the 1750s, as tensions began to rise between Britain and France, Britain wanted the Acadians to swear allegiance, but the Acadians wished to remain neutral. In June 1755, when the British captured Fort Beauséjour and Fort Gaspereau from the French, they ordered all Acadians to surrender their firearms or be considered rebels. In July of that year, British military leader Gov. Charles Lawrence ordered all Acadians to be removed from Nova Scotia.
10.Tuskegee Airmen in World War II.
In 1940, after Black Americans across the US petitioned for integration in the US troops, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that Black pilots could soon begin training. Black pilots were trained in Tuskegee, Alabama, before being deployed to North Africa and Europe. The Tuskegee Airmen's heroic efforts in World War II earned them 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses and ultimately led to the integration of the US armed forces.
11.The Native American smallpox epidemic of 1775–1782.
Smallpox and other diseases had been killing Native American tribes since the European settlers carried them over in the 17th century — at least a century prior to the devastating outbreak beginning in 1775. But during the late 1770s and early 1780s, Native populations were reduced by 50%. There is speculation in recent history that settlers may have purposely gifted Indigenous people with infected blankets as a form of biological warfare.
12.The Iranian Revolution of 1979.
This was a revolution that not only impacted Iran but also set in motion other major historical events, including the establishment of Hezbollah (the Shiite Islamist political party and militant group) in Lebanon. It began in January 1978 when thousands of young students took to the streets to protest unfair media reporting about Ruhollah Khomeini, a religious leader. The protests spurred countless other violent acts against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which only led him to retaliate with military force. In February 1979, the shah backed down, ending the Persian monarchy and positioning Khomeini as the first leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
13.Bacon's rebellion of 1676.
Jamestown, the capital of the Virginia colony, was in ruins. In retaliation for the degradation of the colony, and to express their anger at Gov. William Berkeley's failure to protect the colonists against Native American attacks, Nathaniel Bacon rallied a group of Virginian rebels and they attacked. A bloody fight ensued, and although Beacon died, this event is considered the first armed rebellion by American colonists against Britain.
14.The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of 1986.
Chernobyl was a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. In April 1986, there was a mishap with a routine test that caused two large explosions. It killed at least 30 people directly, and thousands more later developed illnesses because of the radiation exposure — 400 times stronger than that of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.
15.The Stonewall uprising of 1969.
It was still illegal to be gay in the 1960s, and spontaneous police raids of known gay bars were common. On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided a gay club in Greenwich Village. Police violently dragged employees and attendees out onto the street. The bar was shut down, which prompted uprisings among the LGBTQ community, many of them led by transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson.
16.The Red Summer of 1919.
Many Black soldiers served in World War I, and when the war ended, white people feared an insurrection and protests against Jim Crow laws. Shortly after the end of the war, white mobs of soldiers started massively assaulting and killing Black people. The mobs started in Washington, DC, but quickly spread to other cities in the US. Between April and November 1919, 200 Black people were killed in a riot in Arkansas, and there were 97 reported lynchings.
17.The 1969 murder of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton.
The FBI considered Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party a threat to the country. On Dec. 4, 1969, the FBI coordinated a police raid of the Chicago apartment where Hampton and other members of the party were hiding. A 21-year-old Hampton was killed while sleeping next to his pregnant wife. Another Black Panther member was killed, and four party members were critically wounded.
