› added 7 years ago

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TIL of a black New York pastor in 1947 who decided to travel to Alabama in a turban and with a fake accent, posing as a foreign dignitary. His disguise allowed him in white-only areas, and he was treated with little discrimination.

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LQ1Vr TIL freedom house ambulance services is considered the first paramedic service in the US
6EYaw TIL Johnny Cash performed dressed all in black, in contrast to most of the major country acts in his day – rhinestone suits and cowboy boots. Cash wrote the song "Man in Black" to explain that he wore black for the poor and hungry and those betrayed by age or drugs.
b1m0 TIL of a species of Sea Cow over 10 times the size of Manatees that Europeans hunted to extinction in just 27 years
oBlRL TIL that some plants can recognize preying caterpillars by their chewing sounds and then activate chemical defenses. When sounds were played without the caterpillar being present, the plants chemical response was identical.
QJ18e TIL of Richard Pavlick, a retired postal worker who slipped past the Secret Service on a mission to assassinate president-elect JFK in 1960. Pavlick decided not to attempt the assassination because he did not wish to harm Kennedy's wife and children.