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TIL in 1739 a 16 year old girl in South Carolina was instrumental in creating an economy accounting for 1/3 the value of the colony’s output pre-Revolution. George Washington held her in such high esteem, upon her death he travelled to Philadelphia to be one of her pallbearers.

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Oo7Zg TIL In 1900s, Minnie M. Cox, the first African-American woman postmaster in the United States, was forced to resign due to threats of physical harm from local white citizens. President Theodore Roosevelt, feeling Cox had been wronged, closed the post office and continued to pay her salary.
6Ex0W TIL in 1977 a UK TV news bulletin was interrupted by a voice claiming to be the 'Ashtar Galactic Command' and instructed humanity to abandon its weapons, so it could participate in a 'future awakening' and 'achieve a higher state of evolution'. After six minutes, the broadcast returned to normal.
R7pxa TIL of "begpackers", mainly white young travelers who beg or sell cheap trinkets on Asian streets to live on.
x6LJw TIL That In 1996 during an SAS training exercise 21 year old Bear Grylls broke his back after falling from 16,000 feet due to a torn parachute. 2 years later he climbed Mt. Everest becoming the youngest Briton to reach the world's highest peak at the time.
nWejB TIL in school I read about Nellie Bly, a female journalist in the late 1800s who got herself committed to an insane asylum to report on the conditions. She also once jumped off a ferry so she could report on the efficiency of the rescue crew!