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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
Man stands beside the Antarctic snow cruiser. Though the man is tall, the tire is huge--standing 10 feet high.

Antarctic Snow Cruiser by Pullman

Polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd’s staff commissioned the Pullman Company near Chicago to build a snow cruiser for what would be Admiral Byrd’s third trip to Antarctica.  Standing by snow cruiser; tires were 10 feet tall. The idea for the vehicle grew out of a desperate occurrence during Byrd’s second trip to …
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First Native American Doctor: Susan La Flesche Picotte

During the late 19th century, Native Americans had healers within their tribes, but few white doctors would undertake the care of a Native American. Susan La Flesche Picotte, a member of the Omaha tribe, was the first Native American to receive a medical degree. Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte Native American healers …
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Wonder Bread: The Most Famous White Bread

Wonder Bread was first made by the Taggart Baking Company of Indianapolis. It was a factory-made bread, but the Taggart family had been making bread the “old-fashioned way” for fifty years. Bakeries were the family business. The first Taggart Bakery was started around 1870, with its earliest location in Anderson, Indiana. …
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curb cut in use

Curb Cuts: They Have a History!

Curb cuts—the slight slope from a sidewalk to a roadway—are preferred by most people: walkers, bikers, and parents pushing children in strollers—yet they came about only because of a hard-fought battle by disability rights activists. Enjoy them, use them, just don’t ever take them for granted. The Issue With Curbs For most people, …
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Sylvia Mendez

Latino Family Opened Door to School Integration in 1940s

The school desegregation case of Mendez v. Westminster (1947) prepared the way for the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision, yet few people have heard of it. The case concerned an incident in 1943 when a woman took her three children and her niece and two nephews with her to …
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ace pilot Pete Fernandez

Ace Pilot Pete Fernandez: Korean War

Ace pilot Pete Fernandez was one of the top fighter pilots in the Korean War, but he almost didn’t see combat. He was so valuable to the military as a flight instructor that their preference was to keep him safely in the United States. That was hard for a man …
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Polaris, Peary Sledge Dog DescendantPolaris, Peary Sledge Dog Descendant
Collie Travels 2500 Miles to Return to Oregon HomeCollie Travels 2500 Miles to Return to Oregon Home
Martin Luther King Jr. on The Declaration of IndependenceMartin Luther King Jr. on The Declaration of Independence
“Kilroy Was Here”-A Story from World War II“Kilroy Was Here”-A Story from World War II

On
This
Day

On January 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter granted unconditional pardons to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. About 100,000 Americans left the country to avoid going to Vietnam. After the war, the government prosecuted those who returned to the U.S. but had avoided the draft. In an attempt to put the bitterness of the war in the past, Carter campaigned with the promise of pardoning the draft dodgers.

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James Durham, First Black Physician

James Durham is considered the first African American to practice medicine in America—first in Philadelphia and then in New Orleans while it was still under …
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Man stands beside the Antarctic snow cruiser. Though the man is tall, the tire is huge--standing 10 feet high.

Antarctic Snow Cruiser by Pullman

Polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd’s staff commissioned the Pullman Company near Chicago to build a snow cruiser for what would be Admiral Byrd’s third trip …
Read More

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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