Portal:United States
Introduction
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Did you know (auto-generated) -

- ... that according to Rogers Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Ku Klux Cases was its only ruling "markedly favorable to black voting rights" in the post-Reconstruction era?
- ... that 'Til Kingdom Come, a documentary film about evangelical Christian Zionism in the United States, was blocked from airing on PBS due to its editing of a speech by Donald Trump?
- ... that agriculture ranks as one of the most stressful occupations in the United States and one that experiences high suicide rates?
- ... that Bahamian basketball player Waltiea Rolle moved to the United States at the age of 13 after being noticed while walking home from school?
- ... that Centre College co-president Robert L. McLeod served for fifteen months on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier while Robert J. McMullen, the other co-president, ran the school's day-to-day operations?
- ... that wood type for printing was invented in China, first mass-produced in the United States, and later exported back to China for use by missionaries?
- ... that just seven years after being elected to a local school board, Nancy Ross was a candidate for Vice President of the United States?
- ... that trains lost traction during the Locust Plague of 1874 in the United States due to the tracks being "slick with grasshopper guts"?
Selected society biography -
In his later years he became especially known for his advocacy of controversial technological solutions to both military and civilian problems, including a plan to excavate an artificial harbor in Alaska using thermonuclear explosives. He was a vigorous advocate of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, perhaps overselling the feasibility of the program. Over the course of his life, Teller was known both for his scientific ability and his difficult interpersonal relations and volatile personality, and is considered one of the inspirations for the character Dr. Strangelove in the 1964 movie of the same name.
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Selected culture biography -
Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Her career went through several periods of eclipse, and she admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. Married four times, she was once widowed and thrice divorced, and raised her children as a single parent. Her final years were marred by a long period of ill health, but she continued acting until shortly before her death from breast cancer, with more than 100 films, television and theater roles to her credit. In 1999, Davis was placed second, after Katharine Hepburn, on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of all time.
Selected location -
The comprises five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. With over 8.2 million residents within an area of 322 square miles (830 km²), it's the most densely populated major city in the United States.
Many of the city's neighborhoods and landmarks are known around the world. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they arrived at Ellis Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has had several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center.
New York is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism in painting, and hip hop, salsa and Tin Pan Alley in music. In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36% of its population was born outside the United States. With its 24-hour subway and constant bustling of traffic and people, New York is known as "The City That Never Sleeps."
Selected quote -
Anniversaries for April 12
- 1776 – With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its delegation to the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence from Britain.
- 1861 – The first battle of the American Civil War begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1865 – Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
- 1934 – The Auto-Lite Strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
- 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president Harry Truman (pictured) is sworn in as the 33rd President.
- 1981 – The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission, the first manned mission of the STS program.
Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -

The cuisine of the Southern United States encompasses diverse food traditions of several subregions, including cuisine of Southeastern Native American tribes, Tidewater, Appalachian, Ozarks, Lowcountry, Cajun, Creole, African American cuisine and Floribbean, Spanish, French, British, Ulster-Scots and German cuisine. In recent history, elements of Southern cuisine have spread to other parts of the United States, influencing other types of American cuisine. (Full article...)
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More did you know? -
- ...Washingtonia, (pictured) a genus of palm that produces a fruit eaten by Native Americans in the United States?
- ...that the Land Run of 1889 resulted in the founding of both Oklahoma City and Guthrie, whose populations grew from zero to over 10,000 in less than a day?
- ...that William Hawkins Polk, brother of President James Polk, was a U.S. Representative and ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples?
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- ^ Dyer (1908), p. 1430 ; Federal Publishing Company (1908), pp. 100–101 ; Phisterer (1912), pp. 2673–2693 .