Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
4Kviews
53submissions
Finished
Hey Pandas, What’s A Historical Event That More People Should Be Aware Of?
All around the world, people's stories are forgotten or covered up. This is the place to share things too intense for a high school History lesson. Educate us! It's important that we learn about seldom-discussed events, for those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The 1921 Tulsa, OK massacre. One of the wealthiest Black Business districts in the country was destroyed in a matter of hours as White racists descended on Greenwood Avenue. The actual number of people killed may never be known. Some of the attackers were farmers who used crop-dusting airplanes to drop bombs on innocent people in the street. They specifically targeted Black WWI veterans for torture and murder.
Final score:
45points
RELATED:
#2
That New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote - 1893. They couldn't stand as candidates until later but they could vote in national elections. Another innovation was the provision of a set number of Maori seats in Parliament, so the First Nations had a voice in decisions. I understand that those seats no longer exist. New Zealand has been an innovative country in many ways for such a small nation.
Final score:
36points
#3
The radium girls of 1917-1935. Most people don't know or have heard about this tragic event. Back in the day, people used radium as an everyday accessory, medications like pills, and skin care. When Marie Curie found this phenomenon, it blew up across the world. Newspapers talking about the wonders Radium could do you for. People went out to buy watches, facial creams, perfume and paints filled with this substance. But people never thought about who was painting these watches and dials. The Radium Girls sat in a large factory room at tables, sitting for hours following the same, lethal rules: Lip, Dip, Paint. To shape the paintbrush with your lips, then to dip the brush into the radium paints, and then to paint the dials. After a while, the true horrors of this element awoke in the girl's eyes. It all would start with maybe an ache of the jaw, or a toothache. Dentist visits, doctors, nobody could stop the ache. Doctors pulled out teeth from the aching area hoping to stop the infection, but it didn't do much, since the radium was eating away at their bones. Eventually even pieces of the jaw would fall out. Mollie Magia, the very first woman to die, Was at the hospital after months on end of this unbearable pain, when one morning she was sitting with a nurse when her mouth started to flood with blood, choking her to death. Even after her death, radium devoured her bones. After lots of death and pain, The Radium Girls fought back against the companies. They won, eventually. To find out more just search up the radium girls and i will leave you there.
Final score:
35points
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
Upvoting because it's necessary. There's a great book on this, of that title. Meanwhile, even tho' we knew radium was bad... how many working-class kids knew that 100 years ago?
#4
The massive Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939. People like to say that America was completely anti-nazi the entire time. In reality, many Americans agreed with Hitler and his beliefs. America was rife with belief in eugenics, anti semitism, and racism. It wasn't until the bombing of Pearl Harbor that these people started to turn on Hitler.
American history is stained by fascist beliefs, yet we rarely hear about it. It's ignored and erased. We must teach about the reality of America at that time, so we never forget. And we must never forget so that we never repeat.
Final score:
28points
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
We are still not anti-Nazi, and we tried to (bitter irony) "whitewash" that away. Nope. Look up BUCK V BELL. Hitler's minions used that as a legal precedent, and it occurred in the US (Virginia, to be precise).
#5
The Nakba.
Translating to "the catastrophe", the Nakba happened in 1948 when Israel and its neighboring countries went to war. As Israeli forces moved through Palestine to secure the land for their promised Jewish state, many Palestinians throughout the region fled their homes, villages, and towns to escape the violence. The Israeli forces killed many Palestinians that remained, even burning some Palestinian villages. There are still many Nakba refugees around the world who hold onto the keys to their homes in Palestine, hoping to return someday.
The film "Farha" depicts events of the Nakba, based on a Nakba refugee's personal story. The film is under scrutiny from many right-wing Israelis who either deny that the Nakba happened or that the Israeli forces did anything wrong.
Final score:
25points
Thumeka Sebaeng 1 year ago
The story of how Palestine became colonised is so sad, especially after meeting young native Palestinians and hearing their stories.
#6
A lot of people don't know about the Rwandan genocide. 7 April-15 July 1994. We all learn about the holocaust, and rightfully so. But between 450,000 and 800,000 were killed in Rwanda in just over a 4 month span. Watch Hotel Rwanda if you are interested. It's an amazing movie. I didn't know about the genocide until I watched that movie until I was almost an adult, and most people I talk to don't know about it.
Final score:
24points
#7
The amazing, humanity-saving work of Stanislav Petrov, in 83, who decided to not follow orders and thus not launch a massive nuclear counter-strike against a falsely reported US missile launch. See also Abel Archer (also in 83), the second closest the world has come to nuclear annihilation after that. Neither are cheery, but we were literally two decisions by single people within a two month span from having our shadows burnt into the pavement.
Final score:
23points
#8
Belgian Congo genocide by the Belgians, 1885-1960. About 10m Africans dead for rubber and similar. Brutal treatment of locals; hand amputations, death of whole villages, etc. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/the-worst-belgian-colonial-atrocities-that-congolese-can-t-forget-57839
Final score:
22points
Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
King Leopold II belongs on the same list of historical monsters as Joseph Stalin, Idi Amin, Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot.
#9
Stonewall. I know it's well known, but it still needs to be recognised more.
Final score:
21points
#10
Hadrian’s Wall. The fact that the Romans occupied the UK for ages and built a wall to keep out the natives. SO much time and energy is spent on British kings and queens, no one really talks about the fact the Romans had a sewer system in London before British tribes got their s**t together. The first king was in 927 AD Aethelstand, the wall was built in 122 AD.
Final score:
20points
#11
The erasure of culture that occurred when Africans were captured and enslaved. They had music, history, engineering, medicine, gods, and innumerable other things that were simply cut off.
Final score:
20points
PolymathNecromancer 1 year ago
This is, as we speak, the focal point of yet another turning point in history being chosen by the "victors".
#12
The USA Japanese internment camps during WW2. Over 125,000 lost everything, were arrested and sent to camps. They never got their possessions, homes or businesses back. There are still survivors alive today, the amazing George Takai is one of them. I am constantly amazed by someone who has faced so much hate can be such an amazing caring person and not jaded.
Final score:
20points
#13
The Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire. Occurred the same day (October 6, 1871) as the Great Chicago Fire.1500-2500 people died, the fire burned 1.2 million acres and it is the deadliest wildfire in recorded history! The Chicago fire had 300 deaths and burned 3.3 squared miles as comparison, yet you probably have never heard of the Peshtigo Fire .
Final score:
16points
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
Actually, I did, but only after I saw a book about it. And read it. "Under a Flaming Sky", IIRC. Do not read before bed.
#14
The Battle of Hayes Pond, where the Lumbee Tribe thwarts an attempt by the KKK to establish chapter in their town.
https://nativeamericatoday.com/the-battle-of-hayes-pond/
Final score:
15points
#15
Stolen Generations and the Assimilation Act. The Australian government has committed and sanctioned atrocities against Aboriginal people and the hurt is still felt through generational trauma.
Final score:
14points
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
And it was only this year (or end of last year, time is weird) that the Victorian Government apologised for their part in the stolen generation.
#16
Operation Gunnerside. It denied Hitler the materials needed to produce an atomic bomb before we did.
Final score:
11points
General Anaesthesia 1 year ago (edited)
Who is "we"? Edit: oops, I first understood "denied before 'we' denied", therefore the question. But of course you mean prevented him from building before the US built Little Boy and Fat Man. "We" can be a bit confusing on an international site. And I need more coffee.
#17
August 11 and 12, 2017, Charlottesville. It's not long ago but people already have forgotten that dozens were injured, one died, and it was over what? Removing a hunk of bronze. History won't be changed if you remove a statue (does anyone in Germany not know about Hitler just b/c he has no statues?!).... but history apparently can be made. Lawsuits still embroil the statue six years later. For real, when you think your left-leaning area is safe? Charlottesville was/is very left. And it got invaded by haters from around the nation. Over a statue of a guy who died over 150 years ago and fought against the US. It's absurd. It's insane. We don't put up statues of bin-Laden. And, in battle alone, armies under the statue guy? Killed more *in battle* (not wounded, not captured, not illness, battlefield deaths alone) than the whole 20 years in A-stan did to the US in battle. Think about that. Then ask why these statues were ever put up. You learn a LOT about the hidden history of the United States.
Final score:
10points
PolymathNecromancer 1 year ago
I once heard someone offer these perspectives; please reflect on them: 1) Folks refer to themselves as "Civil War buffs"; what would you think of a "Holocaust buff"? [Not intended as disrespect of what happened in Europe, but rather to encourage reflection on the dynamics of the U.S. Civil War.] And 2) Civil War reenactments seem not to be a noteworthy thing in the U.S.; what would you think of a WW2, 9/11, Afghanistan, etc. reenactment? [Intended as a reflection on very devastating war/terror events in our modern times vs. devastating past Horrors, as OP pointed out.]
#18
The Salem Witch Trials.
Not only were countless people murdered just for their beliefs, but even more were executed just to gain property. It was one of the biggest tragedies that happened in North America and is still not widely taught in schools...
Final score:
10points
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
Somewhat amusing, some of the "illnesses" caused by witches was actually from ergot, a fungus that grows on grain plants and when ingested can cause hallucinations...
#19
The Thermidorian Reaction (France, 1794). Basically a bunch of (what would now be considered) war criminals and suspected fraudsters got together in the government to stage a coup and execute the people trying to hold them accountable without trial. When one of the non-corrupt officials missed work, the others spread rumors about him, got him killed, and basically slandered him and blamed him for a lot of things he didn't do. This is the origin of the dictator-Robespierre myth. Robespierre was actually against the death penalty for the most part and tried to get it abolished, and never signed a single death warrant (he was not even on that committee). But the myths spread to Britain and America and by the time the real records were found, the damage was already done. At least one of the conspirators admitted what he'd done and expressed regret later in life.
Final score:
9points
#20
Boudicca. She's was the Icini Queen, a Celtic tribe in Roman Occupied Britian. While the Romans were good to their people and they were great engineers that brought their innovations wherever they went, people need to remember that all the countries they occupied across Europe, Africa and Asia were not their people. They were nearly a means to an end across an ever growing empire
Boudicca was born in 30AD, almost 100 years before Hadrian's Wall went up in 122AD. She was married to a Tribe Prince who had strong warriors while her tribe had access to one of England's wealthiest Silver Mines. So together there were an amazing force. The Romans Invaded England in 43AD while Boudicca was in her early teens. They marched a slow campaign upwards through the country and got to Boudicca's Icini Tribe a bit later. By this time Boudicca had 3 daughters all as beautiful as she was. Boudicca was smart, she knew the Romans were fierce warriors with a lot of numbers and if they went to war with them straight away then she, her family and her people would be slaughtered so she convinced her husband to stand down peacefully and let the Romans go past them. This gave the Roman Soldiers in England a bit of an Ego. One day some Drunk Soldiers strolled into their tribe. Boudicca's husband went out to greet them and was killed on the spot. Boudicca was then taken by surprise and being as beautiful as she was they had their way with her and her three daughters. Her daughters did not survive but Boudicca did. She was furious that the foreigners she let into her home did that to her and she started a revolt, numbers be damned. Boudicca banded together a few sympathetic tribes and burnt Colchester, London and another place who's name I don't know how to spell or what it's called today before being stopped in the West Midlands and killed in 61AD, at 31 years old. She was the first of many reasons why Emperor Nero wanted to pull out of England and build Hadrian's Wall to keep the Saxons in Scotland while they ran away
Today Boudicca has a Statue in London but if you ask people who that is then only a few people oils tell you that is Boudicca, the Icini Queen. Most won't know which is a shame. In England she's a figure for Justice and Independence and a heroine
Final score:
9points
sociallyanxiousslug(She/Her) 1 year ago
BBC horrible histories has a song about her https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eHMRLoJZ5JA
#21
This ground-breaking song, absolute genius but now sadly forgotten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Final score:
8points
#22
Robert Smalls entire life story. Thats something for y'all to research on their own.
Final score:
8points
#23
The TRUE story of The Whitman Massacre. search it up, I already spent 20 minutes talking about the radium girls.
Final score:
6points
Gémeaux jumeaux 1 year ago
Thanks for the awareness-raising. Found these... https://www.historylink.org/File/5192 https://crosscut.com/2017/11/whitman-massacre-missionaries-indians-history-colonialism-washington-state
#24
The Great Terror, it's one of the most horrific things I've heard of.
(1) Joseph Stalin let his own son to be captured and killed saying "So be it soldiers who allow themselves to be captured should be considered traitors."
(2) Stalin sent thousands of innocents to Gulags (Siberian labor camps) if suspected to be apposing communism.
(3) Using collectivisation he composed one of the worst man made famines in history.
This is probably a well known event, but it's not mentioned nearly as much as it deserves. The things that make me wish to turn back time... I can't imagine turning back time for my self.
Then again you can't change the past, it's already been changed. So, to whoever made these devastating events even 2 times better than it would have been, my thanks.
And to whoever helped to avoided the worst of events, you will be secretly celebrated til the end of time.
Final score:
6points
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
Mao did a great job at famine, too. As for USSR, two words: KAtyn Forest.
#25
Pope Gregory IV declared war on cats-
In the 13th Century Pope Gregory IV thought that black cats were instruments of Satan & ordered the extermination of felines throughout Europe. His plan backfired, however, as it resulted in an increase in the population of plague-carrying rats.
Final score:
6points
#26
Munich Massacre Sep 5, 1972 – Sep 6, 1972
Eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September, who infiltrated the Olympic Village, held members of the Israeli team hostage, eventually killing them, during the 1972 Munich Olympics
Final score:
6points
#27
Veterans of the Korean War. People forget about that and if it wasn't for MASH it would probably be totally forgotten. Screw the war but remember the people that had to go there. There have been wars in between wars in between wars
Final score:
6points
#28
That when the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, the understood and accepted point of origin for what would become the United States of America, the Native Peoples of the Americas had already been reduced to less than 20% of their original number. Between 1492 and 1620, there are 128 years of horror that no one - not the Americans that would eventually come to be, or the Europeans who gave rise to them - seems to want to own.
Final score:
6points
#29
The history of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the Saxophone.
Born in Belgium in 1814, by the age of 10 he had evaded death so many times he was nicknamed "The Ghost". He had accidentally drunk poison three times, fallen out of a 3 story window, and nearly drowned in a river.
Despite this, he learned music. At the age of 14 he was enrolled at the Royal School of Singing. At the age of 27 he was a very talented musician and could play almost any insturment. He redesigned the bass clarinet.
He was successful and would challenge musical competitors to public musical showdowns, and win against them.
Adolphe Sax decided that the woodwind family needed another insturment, that it wasn't complete. He based his new insturment on a brass insturment called the ophicleide. When it was complete, he named it the Saxophone, meaning Sax-Sound. In 1841 he first tried to display his prototype, but it was destroyed. However, in 1844, he finally got to show off his instrument, and it was a major success. This also caused rivalry with other insturment makers.
Unfortunately, Adolphe's luck ran out. His rivals bonded together to stop him for good. They sued him so many times he was nearly penniless. They broke into his workshop and bribed his emplyees. They even tried to kill him, putting a bomb under his bed, that went off but didn't hurt him, as he wasn't there, and an assasian killed one of Adolphe's employees thinking it was him. When he died in 1894, he was penniless and his insturment, though fairly succesful, was not overly well-known.
His insturment rose again however, with the rise of jazz, and is know an easily recognizable and popular insturment, more than a century after his death.
Final score:
5points
mysterious (Submission author) 1 year ago
Sorry for the length, and any typos, I did this using a phone keyboard.
#30
Beginning in 1953, the U.S. CIA launched a program called MK-ULTRA with the goal of developing a mind-control drug for use against enemy states. Sidney Gottlieb, the researcher in charge of the experiments (and who operated rather unchecked), ran untold numbers of horrific tests on human subjects, both in the U.S. and abroad... especially in recently-defeated former Nazi Germany, where human subjects' (often prisoners) rights were readily violated. Nazi doctors who had carried out some of the most unimaginable experiments on Holocaust victims were even tapped for their knowledge and were recruited for said CIA experiments. This program was responsible for introducing LSD to the U.S., and giving it to unsuspecting participants. It was not long until LSD seeped into the growing American counterculture and touched many lives, from the Grateful Dead to Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. The resulting political hysteria surrounding LSD and other hallucinogens effectively shut down MK-ULTRA, along with all related psychedelic drug research for decades to come.
Final score:
4points
Vermontah 1 year ago
LSD was legal until 1971. The Army mostly used it on soldiers and some civilians. They were hoping to make a non-lethal weapon that would incapacitate and make them vulnerable. They started toying with it during the cold war. It was just a blissful capture. Not forgetting that monsters like Dr. Mengele did horrible things and escaped to Brazil. CIA thought its better to have nazis helping usa because the russians were recruiting them too. War is hell and we don't learn from history.
#31
I wouldn't necessarily say an event, but rather a historical person that I find very interesting. Mostly because this person's life was a mystery.
To those unfamiliar with Japanese history, there was this man who lived in the later part of the Sengoku Era (which happened from the mid 1400's to the early 1600's) named Yasuke (not his birth name, but one that was given to him). He was recognized as Japan's first, and only, Samurai born in Africa.
Originally, he was brought over to Japan as a slave with an Italian merchant, before a shogun by the name of Nobunaga Oda recruited him as a samurai in 1579. Yasuke would be one of Nobunaga's most trusted retainers until Oda's death at the fire of Honnoji Temple in 1582. And was probably one of the last people to see Nobunaga alive, depending on what story/source material you read/watch.
His life, and even his origin prior to serving Nobunaga, was a mystery. Some sources believe him to be born in Senegal, others believe him to be Ethiopian, and some say he was from Sudan, but nobody knows what happened to him after his time serving Nobunaga. Even his cause of death, and how long he lived after Honnoji, were unknown.
There are a few documentaries about him, and he's appeared in a few manga series, video games, and has even had an anime based off his life on Netflix (simply just named Yasuke). There was even talks of a biopic/historical film to be made with him as the lead, with Chadwick Boseman originally set to play him, but a combination of pandemic restrictions at the time, and his tragic passing prior to filming shelved this project.
I personally believe the mystery behind him, very much like the Unknown Soldiers/Warriors of various countries, make Yasuke an intriguing person to try and learn more about.
Final score:
4points
CG (Submission author) 1 year ago
As for what sources I can recommend if you are interested in learning more about him, I think the Yasuke anime would be a good starting point, though it's acting as a "What if" after serving Nobunaga (and uses fantasy elements for story telling elements). Samurai Warriors 5 introduces him late in Nobunaga's story (due to him appearing late in the Sengoku Era), but I very much like the conclusion of his story there. And he's also a boss you can fight in both Nioh games.
#32
The Holodomor, man made famine in Ukraine. 3.9 million people died. State level genocide that Russia still denies. All able bodied men were rounded up and sent to work camps in Russia, most never returned.
Final score:
3points
Robert Trebor 1 year ago
When crops were harvested the Red Army showed up and all was loaded onto trucks and taken out of Ukraine, up north to Russia. Poor distribution network meant that much of this rotted and was useless for anything before it got to markets. Stalin wasn't Russian, but he hated all of the Nationalities, including Georgians.
#33
History on the state/providence/town that you live in.
Final score:
2points
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
History where I live tends to focus on the gold rush and western settlers.... Not the Native Americans they pushed away... 😜
#34
The Bengal Famine designed by British Admirals,to feed their WW2 troops while millions starved.
Final score:
2points
SparkleFarts 1 year ago
The British Empire had a knack for creating famines to commit genocide
#35
when a soviet cosmonaut (Vladmir Komarov) went on a dangerous space mission in the place of Yuri Gagarin
Final score:
2points
#38
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…The Moon Landing??
Final score:
1point
the shrimp whisperer 1 year ago
this is pretty well known but the fact that it actually happened is something some people still need to wrap their head around XD
#40
The Battle of Castle Itter. May 5, 1945. Wikipedia tells it better than I ever could, as does the Sabaton History Channel on youTube; it is the subject of their song, "The Last Battle," from the album of the same name.
Final score:
1point
#41
The Halifax Resolves are something I learned about in middle school, but not a lot of other Americans seem to. As far as I remember, they were the first document written calling for independence from Great Britian.
Another one would be the Greensboro Sit-In, which considering that North Carolina was part of the Confederacy (reluctantly) and fairly Southern, is pretty amazing. Every time we talk about the Civil Rights Movement it comes up, probably because a lot of us are proud of our state.
Plus we had Blackbeard here! He set up some sort of outpost/thingy on Bald Head Island, and the village there still has a "Pirate Week" every summer.
NC history is pretty niche, but it had a lot of impact on America. We also made Bojangles/Cheerwine, so we kind of get to be a little better than South Carolina because of that :)
Final score:
1point
#45
Deportation of Acadians. I am not Acadian, but Quebecer - so almost a cousin with them. This event is so sad. After the conquest by the British, the Acadians had their lands removed and were deported to Louisiana and Australia. The conditions on the boats were appalling. Many died from it. The Canadian government still refuses to recognize this exile.
Final score:
1point
#47
The Battle of Cable Street. 1936.
Oswald Mosley and his Black Shirts planned to march through the East End of London. The authorities expected about 3000 fascists to turn up so deployed 6000 police to ensure the locals, many of whom were Jewish, didnt stop the march. Estimates of how many anti-fascists turned up varies but the low estimate is 100,000. The police tried to force their way through but it was never going to happen with those numbers and the march was cancelled.
Sometimes the good guys do win, even if it means punching a few fascists, and the police protecting them, in the process.
Final score:
0points
#48
Memorial Day. Stop celebrating it with BBQs and sales and trips to the beach. It’s a day of mourning in recognition of the men and women whom have given all for their country.
Final score:
0points
#49
Thomas McCabe, abolitionist in Belfast, Northern Ireland (just Ireland back then), who fought against the slave traders setting up port in Belfast back in the 1770s.
Final score:
0points
#50
The Battle of Athens.
Final score:
-1point
#51
Phoney war. September 3,1939- May 10, 1940
Final score:
-1point
#52
February 25, 1915
Final score:
-2points
the shrimp whisperer (Submission author) 1 year ago (edited)
why did this get downvoted? was there something i was unaware of?
What do you think ?
the shrimp whisperer (Post author) 1 year ago
YES. i wish people would refer to what the us did to the natives as what it was: genocide. don't sugarcoat it. the united states government killed them, took their land, converted them to christianity, whitewashed them, and made them into a joke in popular media.
Load More Replies...
Julie Snelling 1 year ago
This is a great post very interesting. Unfortunately those who just said Google this I doubt I'll ever do it.
the shrimp whisperer (Post author) 1 year ago
YES. i wish people would refer to what the us did to the natives as what it was: genocide. don't sugarcoat it. the united states government killed them, took their land, converted them to christianity, whitewashed them, and made them into a joke in popular media.
Load More Replies... Julie Snelling 1 year ago
This is a great post very interesting. Unfortunately those who just said Google this I doubt I'll ever do it.
Related on Bored Panda
