Turns out that maybe 19th century American pioneers, travelling west had it both harder and easier than we might imagine from the books and movies we've seen. Harder because many of them didn't have wagons and had to travel on foot 😬 Easier because fatal encounters with native Americans were rare. According to this article, more people died from mishandling their own firearms that they brought to protect themselves from native people. 5 Biggest Misconceptions About Pioneer Life What's something you learned recently?

I didn't know (or I'd forgotten) about Dorothy Height, who was a quietly formidable force to be reckoned with, championing Black rights and women's rights. A truly remarkable person. Excluded at the March on Washington, Dorothy Height Went on to Become the ‘Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement.’ See How She Built a Movement with Women at the Center. What historical tidbit have you've learned recently?

In the history of my home in Pennsylvania there is a true account in the history of Armstrong County of a woman's harrowing story of her kidnapping in which two of her sons were murdered by a band of American Indians. She was taken with two of the children, one of whom was an infant, after one son being murdered at the initial abduction. Her other son was shortly thereafter murdered. For six days she was forced to walk barefoot through the wilderness in captivity carying her infant child and finally escaped with her infant still in tow. She walked back to her home where she was received and cared for. She wrote of her ordeal in a book that was published during her life. Would you read a book that went into detail of what she had to endure?

This original N. C. Wyeth painting hangs in the student dining hall of the school I now work at. Yes, there's been a history of ketchup stains on this beauty, worth millions even after all the spot-removal treatments. But the story behind the painting is so touching. Commissioned by students to honor a classmate who studied art, but died young. https://www.westtown.edu/about/history/archives/the-giant/

Matilda was the eldest legitimate child of Henry I of England, and his choice of heir when he died in 1135. But it was apparently just too hard for people to get their heads around the idea of a woman sitting on the throne. "The concept was so alien that there wasn’t even a name for it: the word ‘queen’ meant simply ‘the wife of the king’, and didn’t imply any ruling authority. She was, in effect, intending to be not a queen but a female king – and although she would have been perfectly capable in the role, this was unprecedented and therefore regarded with deep suspicion." Matilda: The greatest king England never had I'm tempted to buy the non-fiction book about her mentioned in the article (my library doesn't have it), "Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior" by Catherine Hanley. Anyone read any of Hanley's books? What's some history you've learned recently?