› added 4 years ago

267

TIL the lone Supreme Court justice to dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson grew up in a household with a light-skinned, blue-eyed slave who was treated much like a family member. The slave, Robert Harlan, was believed to be John Harlan’s older half-brother. Even John’s father believed Robert was his son.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

kOjDd TIL Miners would inhale aluminum powder to coat their lungs and "prevent" silica based diseases, resulting in many suffering from ALS today.
0w5by TIL In a study on lung cancer patients, 48% of subjects had quit smoking prior to diagnosis, usually easily, despite prior attempts. Lung cancer tumors secrete a substance that disrupts nicotine addiction, but the study was buried because scientists worried it would encourage people to keep smoking.
VpA0 TIL in older Scandinavian society a popular Christmas prank was to place a straw goat in a neighbour’s house without them noticing; the family successfully pranked had to get rid of it in the same way!
OnNX TIL Some ants form “supercolonies,” massive communities of ants that can stretch for thousands of miles.
naW7 TIL There’s a red, white and blue buoy marking the spot that Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry (inspiring him to write the Star Spangled Banner) in the Patapsco River. Picture in comments.