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TIL In 2013, the state of Mississippi officially ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. Until that time, the state had not submitted the required documents for it to officially complete the ratification process.

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e0xYk TIL that Readjuster Party, led by two former Confederate officers in post-Civil-War Virginia, abolished the poll tax, abolished the public whipping post, funded public schools for African Americans, hired African Americans as teachers, and founded the historically black Virginia State University.
jNYQj TIL there is an annual tradition at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station where after the last flight of the season leaves (after which they're stuck for a few months), the crew holds a movie night where they watch all three film adaptations of "The Thing"
BrWPk TIL that debunking a famed fake mechanical chess player helped set Edgar Allan Poe on the path to mystery writing
kXAW TIL Christopher Columbus made the natives each bring him a specified amount of gold every three months. Those who didn’t collect enough gold in time had their hands amputated and were left to bleed to death.
xLZB TIL “&” used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet. The name ampersand comes from the fact that early 1800s school children reciting their ABCs concluded with “&” by saying “X, Y, Z, and per se and” (“per se” means “by itself”)