From: Myke Payne
Question: It has been sugested that the term "red
skins" is derogatory to the Indians. Where did the
term come from? Did the white settlers ever skin natives
and sell their skins as was suggested?
Answer: This online discussion about
language gives a good summary of the use of the term "redskin"
to describe Native Americans whose skin pigment had a
reddish brown caste. The use of the term, as you’ll
see, had nothing to do with removing anyone’s skin
– just a descriptor for a different color of skin.
It wasn’t entirely accurate, but then few people
of European descent have truly "white" skin,
and Chinese and Japanese people aren’t really "yellow."
Human beings aren’t very good at describing each
other, are they?
Here's the url: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/1058.html
From:
R. Corne
Question: Could you please tell me the names
of the sons of liberty?
Answer: I'm afraid that no one can
give you the names of all the members of the Sons of
Liberty. You could probably get the names of the leaders
in major cities in most of the colonies, but they didn't
keep membership lists. Here are a couple of good articles
on the movement that will give you some idea of what
the "Liberty Boys" were like:
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/sons.htm
http://earlyamerica.com/review/fall96/sons.html
From: Barb Layden
Question: How many wars has the United States
fought in (ex: Civil War, Korean War, etc.) and what
was the primary reason or reasons for our participation
in each one (ending slavery, opposing fascism, etc.)?
Answer: It depends on how you’re
defining "wars." The United States has experienced
a lot of armed conflicts in which there was a formal
declaration of war involved. Here’s a site with
a good list of all the conflicts, official "wars"
and otherwise, but it doesn’t have links to background
information on each conflict:
http://www.historyguy.com/american_military_history.html
This one has fewer wars, but lots of data on each one
they list:
http://www.multied.com/wars.html
This gives you links to a lot of good sources for further
information on wars:
http://www.ipl.org.ar/ref/RR/static/hum3089.html
From: Katie Mendelsohn
Question: What kind of tea was dumped in Boston
Harbor? I am teaching a middle school class about the
Revolutionary War and would like to serve a formal tea
to my students. What kind of tea was it that was thrown
in Boston Harbor--English Breakfast? Oolong? Darjeeling?
Or is there some brand called Boston Tea? Do you know
or know how I can find out? Thanks.
Answer: What a great question. As
a confirmed tea-drinker (can't stand the taste of coffee),
I applaud your efforts. I'd suggest that you get in
touch with someone at the Boston Tea Party Museum in
Boston. If they don't know the answer, no one does:
http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/index.asp
Let me know what they say, I'm curious now.
Follow-up:
Here is the answer I got from the Boston Tea Party
Museum when I finally got through to them:
There were several types of tea dumped overboard on
the night of the Tea Party: Bohea, Singlo, Congou,
Souchon, Hyson.
There is a great website called Tea Muse which has
a very nice article about some of these teas. The
article is titled “Teas of Yore” and is
at:
http://www.teamuse.com/article_031001.html
Also, for your information: The total number of boxes
thrown overboard on Dec. 16th 1773, was 340, with
a total weight of 92,616 pounds, and a value of 92,659
pounds (English money).
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