› added 4 years ago

97

TIL that Sam Houston, famous for being president of the Republic of Texas, refused to join the Confederate States of America, predicting that they would lose the civil war. Instead he pushed for the re establishment of an independent Texas.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

4knn5 TIL of William Walker, an American physician, lawyer, journalist, mercenary, slavery supporter, and Southern folk hero from from Tennessee. Walker seized control of Nicaragua from 1856 to 1857, and convinced many U.S. Southerners of the desirability of creating a Confederate empire in Latin America.
d8yA8 TIL Saint Petersburg, Russia has been renamed several times. In 1914, it was renamed Petrograd to expunge the German words "Sankt" & "Burg". In 1924, it was renamed Leningrad. In 1991, the original name Saint Petersburg returned after a city-wide referendum.
gwp7 TIL Jerome Iginla donates $2,000 to charity for every goal he scores. He has scored over 500 career goals and donated more than $700000 in 2000 to 2013.
R7kel TIL that Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein's first wife, was one of the first female physicists in the world. There is evidence she contributed greatly to Einstein's research, including his theory of special relativity. Einstein once said, "She solves for me all my mathematical problems."
YpDrB TIL of Elizabeth Jennings Graham, a black woman who in 1854, insisted that she ride in a segregated streetcar. Her main lawyer, future president Chester A Arthur, won the case and all streetcars in New York became desegregated.