› added 2 years ago

249

TIL In 1894, the American Railway Union organized a national boycott and strike against all trains hauling Pullman Cars in response to a strike called by workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company. 34 were killed over 2 weeks.

5Gn8 TIL A language teacher volunteered to teach troubled black high school students French in Watts, California after the race riots. The principal warned him he would “be sorry” but within a few weeks students were speaking to each other in French
ZpDOp TIL Robin Williams was given a role by Star Trek: The Next Generation writers as a man named Berlinghoff Rasmussen for the episode "A Matter of Time" where he would play a fast-talking car salesman type time traveler who turns out to be a con man. Williams had to decline in order to film 'Hook'
lVgG Til that 1,000 pound Texas woman, who was known as “Half Ton Killer” has lost 800 pounds after she falsely confessed to killing her two years old nephew by sitting on top of him.
xVVVD TIL Adolf Hitler was the first European leader to ban human zoos, a popular attraction in Europe where exotic peoples were paid to be on exhibit for onlookers, with recreated habitats and shows. Belgium was the last to ban them, in 1958.
epdok TIL that when quirky theatrical producer David Merrick got bad reviews for his 1961 musical, he found 7 random denizens of New York with names identical to those of 7 top theatre critics. He asked the civilians to talk ecstatically of the musical, then published an ad with their praises and names.