Elizabeth De Hart Bleecker diary. NYPL
1. The Diary of a 23-Year-Old New Yorker Details Alexander Hamilton’s Death
The New York Public Library has been working on a two-year project that aims to digitize around 50,000 pages of their early American manuscript collections. One is the diary of Elizabeth De Hart Bleecker, that tracks her life from 1799-1806. According to the diary, the day after Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel, his widow visited with Bleecker. Learn more at NYPL.org.
2. The Unheard Stories of the Pan Am 73 Crew
Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on September 5, 1986 at Karachi airport in Pakistan by four armed Palestinian men of the Abu Nidal Organization. Nearly 30 years after the incident, six of the plane’s crew have spoken to the media for the first time. Read more at BBC.
3. On This Day: March 31
On March 30, 1981, John W. Hinckley, Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan and several others in a failed assassination attempt. President Reagan was shot in the chest, just below the left underarm. He suffered a punctured lung and heavy internal bleeding, but prompt medical attention allowed him to recover quickly. Learn more from the “Prosecutive Report” submitted by the FBI to the Department of Justice in May 1981 as Justice lawyers considered how to prosecute Hinckley for the attacks.
In many ways, President Lyndon B. Johnson was the most unlikely champion of Civil Rights. But his actions in the White House told a different story when he dared to tout two laws that changed America and the world—the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Now, fifty years later, JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness sheds light on the fascinating story of a president who knew how to harness the nation’s grief over John F. Kennedy’s assassination, twist arms, and get his way. The film includes rarely-seen footage, secret White House tapes, and personal testimony from LBJ’s advisors, biographers, friends, and family. Watch the full episode now.
4. Ancient Necropolis Hints at Ancient Egyptian Life
The Ministry of Antiquities announced that ruins of a long-lost necropolis have been uncovered at an Egyptian quarry site. The remains date back 3,400 years and include hundreds of artifacts and dozens of tombs that may be the resting places of many ancient Egyptian nobles. Read more at Smithsonian.
5. Ancient Non-Stick Pan Factory Found in Italy
Italian archaeologists have found a site near Naples where the precursors of non-stick pans were produced more than 2,000 years ago. The cookware, known as “Cumanae testae” or “Cumanae patellae,” was mentioned in a first-century Roman cookbook. Read more at Discovery News.
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