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Stories of America’s Past

Welcome to America Comes Alive!, a site I created to share little-known stories of regular people who made a difference and changed the course of history. Look around and see what inspires you! — Kate Kelly

Kate Kelly
Fannie Lou Hamer testifying at the DNC

Voting Rights Advocate Fannie Lou Hamer

As a Mississippi resident, Fannie Lou Hamer was not informed that Black people had the right to vote in the United States until she was almost 42 years old (1960). The family had no television set, and even if they had, the stations frequently put up a slide, “transmission trouble,” if the news had to do with African American rights. It was the arrival of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in her community of …

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Ossian Sweet

Ossian Sweet Denied Right to His Home, 1925

In 1925, physician Ossian Sweet had enough money to buy a bungalow for his wife and young daughter in a working class section of Detroit.  When the Sweets—a Black family–moved into their new home, they were soon surrounded by a crowd of white neighbors, who were curious and unhappy with what was happening to their neighborhood. Violence felt very possible. Since 1868 and the passage of the 14th Amendment, all citizens are promised equal protection …

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Rose Knox: Businesswoman Ahead of Her Time

Rose Knox started the Knox Gelatine Company with her husband, Charles, in Johnstown, New York, in 1890. (Gelatine was the preferred spelling at that time.) When Charles died unexpectedly in 1908, Rose stepped in as president and CEO. She made numerous changes that established Knox Gelatine as a company ahead of its time. She knew women made the grocery decisions, so she re-targeted the company’s marketing to reach that audience. She also made many changes …

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Abraham Lincoln’s Childhood: Growing Up to Be President

Abraham Lincoln’s childhood was filled with challenges and sadness, but he was always resourceful. As a young boy, Lincoln coped with the death of his mother when he was only nine. The family moved frequently as his father sought better places to farm, and even then, there were many periods when the family did not have enough to eat. Though his mother and stepmother both valued education, the Lincolns lived in such remote areas that …

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On March 25, 1911, a factory fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City killed 145 workers, primarily because the exits were blocked or locked. The employees were young immigrant women, and workers had no protection at that time. When the fire began in the rag bin, the women were not able to escape. The tragedy led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of factory workers.

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Welcome to America Comes Alive!, a site I created to share little-known stories of regular people who made a difference and changed the course of history. Look around and see what inspires you! — Kate Kelly

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Part of the inspiration for this site comes from this remark: “People do not want to hear about simple things. They want to hear about great things – simply told.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams (1860-1935)
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