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Grattage
Definition

Grattage - The Surrealist Artistic Technique

Grattage is a 20th-century painting technique closely associated with the Surrealist movement. The term derives from the French verb gratter, meaning “to scrape” or “to scratch,” and refers to a method in...
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Definition

Transatlantic Slave Trade - The Shame of Nations

The transatlantic slave trade (also given as the Atlantic slave trade, circa 1492 to 1860) was the practice of enslaving the citizens of African states and transporting them across the Atlantic Ocean to...
Frederick Douglass
Definition

Frederick Douglass - American Visionary

Frederick Douglass (circa 1818-1895) was an abolitionist orator, minister, writer, editor, reformer, and statesman, who had been born a slave in Maryland, escaped to New York at around the age of 20, and became...
Thirteen Colonies
Definition

Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were a cluster of British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard of North America. Founded for a variety of reasons – economic, political, and religious – the colonies emerged with their own distinct...
Creole Mutiny
Definition

Creole Mutiny - The Most Successful Slave Revolt in US History

The Creole Mutiny/Creole Rebellion (1841) was an insurrection aboard the brig Creole on 7 November 1841 during which 19 enslaved men (of the 135 men, women, and children held as slaves on board...
Bolshevik Revolution
Definition

Bolshevik Revolution - When Russia Became a Socialist State in 1917

The Bolshevik Revolution occurred on 7 November 1917 (old calendar 25 October) and established a new republic: Soviet Russia. The Bolsheviks were radical socialists led by Vladimir Lenin...
Patrick Cleburne
Definition

Patrick Cleburne - Stonewall of the West

Patrick R. Cleburne (1828-1864) was an Irish-born Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Having immigrated to Arkansas in 1850, Cleburne fell in love with his adopted state and volunteered...
Amistad Seizure
Definition

Amistad Seizure - The Court Case that Captivated the World

The Amistad Seizure (also known as the Amistad Incident, the Amistad Rebellion, the Amistad Mutiny, and Amistad Revolt) was a conflict aboard the Spanish schooner La Amistad in July 1839, off the...
Zachary Taylor
Definition

Zachary Taylor - Old Rough and Ready - the 12th US President

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was an American military officer who served as the twelfth president of the United States. Born to a family of prominent Virginian planters, Taylor joined the US Army...
A. P. Hill
Definition

A. P. Hill - The Confederate General Who Saved Lee at Antietam

Ambrose Powell Hill (1825-1865) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861-1865), who commanded the Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. Often referred to as 'A...
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