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TIL some of the slaves freed from Charleston SC during the civil war organized a March at a race track where union soldiers had died in what is known as the first memorial day observance (a year before other states, and 3 years prior to the first national observance).

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lPo5 TIL New York Times Reporter William Seabrook, in the interests of research, obtained a chunk of human meat from the body of a healthy human killed in an accident, then cooked and ate it. He reported, “It was like good, fully developed veal, not young, but not yet beef.
PYjVn TIL of the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine, a group of 19th century lumberjacks who suffered a rare disorder. They had an exaggerated startle reflex and would immediately obey any sudden command and repeat the words. Modern studies have concluded it was a psychological condition rather than a tic.
OGnbR TIL about the 100-Man Kumite, a martial arts challenge wherein a challenger endures 100 consecutive sparring matches against fighters of equal or higher rank. Since 1965 there have only been 30 total victors, the last being in 2020.
GAp11 TIL The Romans had the first newspaper in the world, the Acta Diurna, or Daily Doings, in 59 BC. Although no copies of this paper have survived, it is widely believed to have published chronicles of events, assemblies, births, deaths, and daily gossip.
9w5wM TIL that Spelling Bees (competitions where competitors must correctly spell words until one is left standing) don't really exist outside of English, and within English, they're pretty much only an American thing