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“Where did all the Slaves go?”
A Presentation for the Schenectady Historical Society, March 23, 2023.
How old? Claims for Superannutated, Centenarian, and Super-Centenarian Ex-Slaves
If you search for articles on “ex-slave centenarians” you will discover many claims of formerly enslaved people who lived not only to 100, but much longer. In 1981, William Pinckey of Prince George’s County, Maryland, claimed to be 118, and had been born a slave. Not to be outdone, Philadelphia’s Mary McDonla claimed to be 135 […]
Does the Super Bowl Come Later Every Year? (let’s look at the data)
Super Bowl LIX (that is, Super Bowl 59) is coming up, and if you are like me, you might be thinking, “isn’t it pretty late in the year for the Super Bowl? I mean, it’s almost spring, right? Well, I decided the plot the date of the progression of the Super Bowl over time and […]
JP Morgan
A business school student tells me he has an interview with J.P. Morgan. Me the historian: “Wait, J.P. Morgan is still alive?”
The case of the really old slave
In my research on American slavery, I’ve come across frequent references to slaves and freed blacks of extraordinary age. Part of the reason for this, I suspect, is that many people did not know in which year they were born. Census takers engaged in “statistical heaping” when old people estimated there age at “about 100”. […]
The JFK Hat Thesis Lives on
The idea that American men stopped wearing hats because they followed the example of their fearless leader, John F. Kennedy, is one of those historical myths that is almost certainly wrong but seldom challenged. In an article in Insider Higher Ed, Matt Reed asks “Will the pandemic do to ties what JFK did to hats?” […]
Why its OK that you don’t remember anything you were supposed to have learned in History Class
In homage to the Routledge “Why it’s OK” Series I present: “Why its OK that you don’t remember anything you were supposed to have learned in history class.” (1) There’s a good chance that much of what you were supposed to have learned was wrong. The best-known work on this issue is of course James […]
Interview on the Historically Thinking Podcast
Took a trip over to Charlottesville a few weeks ago to hang out and talk about my new book: Episode 114: Creative Historical Thinking, or, Thinking Outside the Box
Michael J Douma 