2. The Resolution of the East Tennessee Convention of 1861 (printed in the New York Times and thus now available on their website with a publication date of July 3, 1861). Many areas of the South including East Tennessee, Northern Alabama, and West Virginia actively opposed secession during the run-up to the Civil War.
3. The history of the Pill. There is so much I didn't know about the history of sexuality in American culture: Margaret Sanger resolved to find an effective means for birth control when her mother died after 18 pregnancies (she accused her father over her mother's coffin). Bans on promoting and/or using birth control were common until the mid-60's. Around this time, some African-American leaders called the Pill "black genocide," urging black women not to take it on the premise that a high birth rate was necessary to change the balance of power in America. And that's just the beginning; reading this article was an eye-opening experience.
4. China will overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy by 2020.
5. A couple in the U.K. has been denied the right to become foster parents because of their plan to teach their children that a "homosexual lifestyle" is unacceptable.
East Tennessee, man. What a great place.
ReplyDelete