Welcome to America Comes Alive!, a site I created to share little-known stories of America’s past. These stories are about Americans—people just like you—who have made a difference and changed the course of history. Look around the site and find what inspires you.

American Ingenuity, Communications, Education, Make America a Better Place

Weekly Reader: An Important Part of Classrooms for Many Years

Weekly ReaderSeveral generations of Americans remember Weekly Reader as a source of news in the classroom.

The goal of the four- to eight-page weekly paper, which was distributed via the classroom, was to bring awareness to children of what was happening in the world, so that one day they might become daily newspaper readers.

Schools purchased the publication in bulk, and a nominal fee (about $2 in the 1950’s) was collected from parents to offset district charges. (Schools generally had money for those who could not afford it.)

The weekly was distributed on Friday afternoons, and must have offered a welcome relief to teachers who were ready for something to fill the final afternoon before the weekend.  Continue reading →

Harlem Hellfighter
Harlem Hellfighter Hero: Henry Lincoln Johnson
The Harlem Hellfighters were a heroic bunch from the beginning, but this World War I infantry regiment had one man who stood out from all the rest: Private Henry Lincoln Johnson (1897-1929), a former railroad porter.  Johnson and fellow soldier Robert Needham were on night sentry duty… Continue reading »

Lincoln's patent
Abraham Lincoln’s Patent: The Only President-Inventor
To read this patent application today is to be transported to a time before the name, Abraham Lincoln, carried such import—before he was the President who led our country through a war that literally could have torn the country in two. The application begins: “Be it known that… Continue reading »

portrait Taft 1
President Taft’s Weight: Keeping the Pounds Off
President William Howard Taft (1857-1930), who served as president from 1909-1913, was a big man.  At about 6 feet tall, his weight fluctuated from 255 to over 350 pounds, and he was constantly fighting to keep the pounds off. Taft’s career of choice was in the judiciary,… Continue reading »

Jay-Silverheels
Jay Silverheels, Played Tonto in The Lone Ranger
Jay Silverheels (1912-1980) is best-remembered for his role as Tonto in The Lone Ranger, an ABC television program that ran for 221 episodes (1949-1957). Silverheels was a full-blooded Mohawk Indian born on the Six Nations Indian Reservation in Ontario, Canada. His birth name was Harold Smith, and he was… Continue reading »

Kilroy was here
“Kilroy Was Here”-A Story from World War II
The words, “Kilroy was here,” alongside a drawing of a long-nosed, bald fellow peering over a fence still pop up occasionally on walls and buildings today.  But the original legend of Kilroy dates to World War II and a man named James J. Kilroy (1902-1962), who… Continue reading »

cigar store Indian
The Story of Cigar Store Indians
In the 19th century many people could not read, so store owners placed carvings of various symbols in front of their shops so passersby knew what was sold inside. A carving of a wooden Indian indicated a tobacco store; a red, white and blue striped pole… Continue reading »

Mary Lincoln
Mary Lincoln’s Shopping Habits in Perspective
Mary Lincoln’s shopping habits and most other aspects of her life made news once Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) won the presidential election of 1860. Though Lincoln would not take office until March of 1861, Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) found herself under constant scrutiny for where she went, what she… Continue reading »

cute baby in diaper
American Inventors: The Stories of Men and Women Who Devise Answers to Vexing Problems
Inventions are the ultimate result of successful problem-solving. But how on earth did people come up with the first ideas for luxuries (and now necessities) as disposable diapers, the dishwasher, the cell phone, and blue jeans? Recently I have been asked to speak on this topic to… Continue reading »

Hispanic leader
Hispanic Heritage Month: Five Stand-Outs to Remember
America Comes Alive has profiled several Latino leaders during the past few weeks as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. Today I would like to point out a few of the impressive people we’ve highlighted: Adelina Otero-Warren (1881-1965) was active in the suffrage movement in New Mexico. She became… Continue reading »

Rosenwald Schools
The Rosenwald Schools: Schools for African-Americans in the Rural South
The Rosenwald Schools  were built in the early 20th century as a solution to the scarcity of schools for African-Americans in the rural South at that time.  The school-building program was the idea of educator Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) who approached Julius Rosenwald, (1862-1932), the president of… Continue reading »

Ellen Ochoa
Ellen Ochoa: First Latina Astronaut, Inventor and Now Director of “Mission Control”
Ellen Ochoa (1958-   ) is a veteran astronaut who was chosen for four space flights and has almost one thousand flight hours to her credit.  She was the first Latina to be chosen as an astronaut, and she is now director… Continue reading »

Carlos Finlay
Carlos Finlay: Cuban Physician Who Solved the Mystery of Yellow Fever And Made the Panama Canal Possible
The cause of yellow fever was identified by Dr. Carlos Finlay (1833-1915), a Cuban physician who was instrumental in reducing the incidence of yellow fever in tropical climates throughout the world. In the United States, this was important in the southern states where the weather was often… Continue reading »

Pedro-Guerrero
Pedro Guerrero (1917-2012): The Only Photographer Trusted by Frank Lloyd Wright
Art school dropout who became Frank Lloyd Wright’s exclusive photographer Pedro Guerrero was born in Casa Grande, Arizona on September 5, 1917. His family had been in Arizona for several generations before the territory achieved statehood. His great-grandfather had settled in a little town known as Florence in… Continue reading »

oterowarren_350
Adelina Otero-Warren (1881-1965), Suffragist
One of first female government officials in New Mexico First New Mexican woman and the first Latina to run for national office Suffragist Born into a well-to-do family that traced its heritage to eleventh-century Spain, Adelina “Nina” Maria Isabel Emilia Otero was born in 1881 in Las Lunas, New Mexico. Otero-Warren was… Continue reading »

MARY
Traveling West in 1854: The Story of an 11-Year-Old Girl and Her Family
We often read stories of families traveling west by wagon train. However, recently I was introduced to a reminiscence of a woman’s childhood journey to California from Ohio via the Isthmus of Panama.  The family opted for the route that took the least time, traveling from Ohio to… Continue reading »

George Washington
George Washington’s Teeth: A President in Pain
George Washington’s teeth were bad, and he lost many of them while still young. This fact about our first president is generally well-known as much has been written about his dentures. The story of his teeth reveals a great deal about the state of dentistry during his lifetime,… Continue reading »

tree lighting ceremony
The Tradition of the White House Tree Lighting Ceremony
Today we think of the ceremonial lighting of the White House Christmas tree as a long-time tradition, but it actually only dates to 1923. Individual first families undoubtedly had Christmas trees, but there was no public or official sharing… Continue reading »

turkey pardon
The Presidential Turkey Pardon
While we think of the pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey as a long-standing tradition, it has actually been a relatively short and an erratic one. Acquiring the official turkey, however, follows a much longer and… Continue reading »


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Part of the inspiration for this site comes from a remark made by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams (1860-1935):

"People do not want to hear about simple things. They want to hear about great things—simply told."

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Who Thought of That?
This Day in History

On January 30, 1933, The Lone Ranger debuted on Detroit’s WXYZ radio station. The “masked rider of the plains” was created by Detroit station owner George Trendle and writer Fran Striker, and the program was to go on to great success on radio and later on television and in the movies.  The Lone Ranger never smoked, swore, or drank alcohol; he used grammatically correct speech free of slang; and, most important, he never shot to kill.  However, today his sidekick, the Indian scout Tonto, is well-recognized as a politically incorrect depiction of a Native American.

 

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