› added 5 years ago

71

TIL Alexandre Dumas was only one-fourth black, from his paternal grandmother. His other three grandparents were white.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9xXm TIL some states in India had made every crime punishable by forced sterilization in the 1970’s. Some were punished for traveling on a train without buying a ticket. In total 8.3 million vasectomies & tubal ligations had been done.
7rrAO TIL of Colonel Charles Young, the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the US Army. After being denied promotion to brigadier general under the guise of fitness, he rode on horseback from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to disprove rumors of his poor health.
xk77 TIL: Over 248 Police Officers and Firefighters in New Jersey were linked to a steroids ring in 2007.
WxpA TIL Abraham Lincoln was such an accomplished wrestler that once, after disposing of an opponent with a single toss, he stepped to the center of the mob that had gathered and shouted, “Any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns!”
RDwj TIL that France gives a medal to citizens who have “successfully raised several children with dignity.”