Dr. Todd Arrington @btarrington.bsky.social

Executive Director, Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation. Views are mine, not my employer's. Historian. Writer. Army veteran. Adjunct history instructor. Author of “The Last Lincoln Republican” (Univ. Press of Kansas, 2020). #ParkChat Hall of Famer.

I’ve been at my new job for six weeks now. Is it too early to break out my Michael Scott-approved “World’s Best Boss” mug?

I picked it up for myself at Spencer’s Gifts.
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Happy birthday to one of the most important figures in U.S. pop culture history: Liz Sheridan, the actress who played Jerry’s mom on “Seinfeld.” She was born in New York City on this day in 1929. She lived until 2022.

Surely I’m not the only 50-something still obsessed with “Seinfeld.”

Image: NBC.
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4/9/1939: Contralto Marian Anderson performed at Lincoln Memorial. Daughters of the American Revolution barred her from performing at Washington DC’s Constitution Hall because Anderson was Black; First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt invited her to sing at the Lincoln Memorial.

Image: Hilton Archive/Getty.
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As if the Artemis II mission hasn’t already gotten people excited about space travel and exploration again…
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Thanks to @civilwarmemory.bsky.social for the reminder about today being the 161st anniversary of Lee's surrender to Grant but also about the Civil War's most important legacies: emancipation of enslaved people and abolition of American slavery.
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“War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace.”

~Walter Cronkite.

Image: Library of Congress.
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On this day 52 years ago-4/8/1974-Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time career home run record of 714. Aaron, a Black man, faced racist comments and death threats as he approached Ruth’s record and after breaking it.

Image: Associated Press.
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“I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.”

~General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Image: National Archives.
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Hey new followers: please follow us over at @jmstownrediscovery.bsky.social too! I’m trying to build the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation’s presence on @bsky.app. I promise great info but also fun and irreverence there, too.

Hope to see you there as well. Thanks!
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On this day 86 years ago-Apr. 7, 1940-the US Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Booker T. Washington—the first-ever American stamp depicting a Black person. Stamp issued two days after what would have been Washington’s 84th birthday (born enslaved in VA on 4/5/1856).

Image: US Postal Museum.
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“Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day.”

“Yes. Lick ‘em tomorrow, though.”

~Exchange between Generals William T. Sherman & Ulysses S. Grant on evening of 4/6/1862 (164 years ago tonight) after battle of Shiloh’s first day. The Union won the battle the next day.

Images: Library of Congress.
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On this day 160 years ago (4/6/1866), the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was formed. It was a fraternal organization of Union Civil War veterans that became a powerful political force, arguing for pensions for Union veterans, equal treatment for Black veterans, and more.

Image: GAR medal. Parsa.
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Robert Smalls was born enslaved in SC on this day in 1839. During the Civil War, he commandeered a Confederate ship & sailed it to Union waters, thereby freeing himself, his family, & several enslaved crew members & their families. He later served in the SC Legislature & Congress.

Image: LOC.
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George Washington vetoed only two bills during his presidency. On 4/5/1792 (234 years ago today), he issued the first of those vetoes, which was of the Apportionment Bill concerning representation in the US House of Representatives. His second veto came in Feb. 1797.

Image: National Gallery of Art.
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I snapped this photo at work on Friday. That’s the Captain John Smith statue with the James River in the background. @jmstownrediscovery.bsky.social is a great place to go to work every day!
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“No government can be free that does not allow all its citizens to participate in the formation and execution of her laws.”

~Thaddeus Stevens, abolitionist, civil rights advocate, longtime Pennsylvania congressman.

Stevens was born on this day 234 years ago: 4/4/1792.

Image: Library of Congress.
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58 years ago today-Apr. 4, 1968-civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis by white supremacist James Earl Ray. Dr. King was just 39 years old.

Image: On 4/4/1968, associates of Dr. King point in the direction from which the fatal shot came. LIFE/Getty Images.
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Happy 77th birthday to NATO, created on this day in 1949. Despite what some would have you believe, it’s still a critically important alliance.

But why take my word for it when @hcrichardson.bsky.social can explain it so much better?
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185 years ago today (4/4/1841), William Henry Harrison became the first president to die in office. He was just 1 month into his term. The Constitution wasn’t yet clear on presidential succession; Vice President John Tyler moved quickly to assume the presidency.

Image: Public Domain.
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“Watching My Son Fight” will definitely be a chapter in my future book “Things I Was Not Prepared For in Parenthood, Or, Why I Am Aging Prematurely.”
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Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final speech 58 years ago tonight (Apr. 3, 1968) in Memphis. It’s widely known as the “mountaintop speech.” This is a powerful excerpt of that speech. It’s still meaningful and very applicable to the current moment.
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Yep, that’s me. Those were my 15 minutes of fame, I guess.

But good news: I’ve landed with the awesome @jmstownrediscovery.bsky.social in Virginia, and I’m on a mission to bring my particular brand of snark & irreverence to social media here.

So follow us there and see if I crash & burn. Again.
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“I am feeling greatly dissatisfied with my lack of opportunity for study…What might not a vigorous thinker do, if he could be allowed to use the opportunities of a presidential term in vital, useful activity?”

~President James A. Garfield, 1881.

Image: National Portrait Gallery.
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Thirty years ago today-4/3/1996-federal agents captured the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, at his remote Montana cabin. From 1978-95, he sent 16 homemade bombs to people somehow affiliated with what he viewed as dangerous modern technology. His bombs killed three & injured two dozen others.

Image: FBI.
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On this day 109 years ago-4/2/1917-President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress seeking a declaration of war against Germany, thereby taking the US into World War I. Wilson had won reelection five months earlier on the campaign slogan “He Kept Us Out of the War.”

Image: US House of Representatives.
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On this day 234 years ago-Apr. 2, 1792-Congress passed the Coinage Act, which established the U.S. Mint.

People seem to like money, so this was a cool idea.

Image: Public domain.
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I gained several hundred more followers while I slept last night. Thank you all!
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Thanks and welcome to all who followed me today and helped me leave my goal of 5K followers in the dust. If hot history takes from a short, stocky, slow-witted bald man are your jam, you’ve come to the right place.
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What the….? This is the first time I’ve looked on here since this morning. It appears I’ve gained 2,000 followers today.

I guess it just proves what we all heard as kids back in the ‘70s & ‘80s: “If you want to gain social media followers, get reposted by @hcrichardson.bsky.social.”
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I am just 130 followers shy of 5,000. I would like to have 5,000.

This is not an April Fool’s Day joke. Please share and encourage/threaten/shame your friends and family members into following.
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