Portal:United States
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- ... that as the first licensed architect in Oklahoma, Leon B. Senter held "License Number 1" for forty years, from 1925 until his death?
- ... that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Guam in the territory's attempt to seek U.S. Navy contributions to clean up Ordot Dump, a former landfill and Superfund site?
- ... that Erick Russell is the first openly gay African American elected to a statewide office in the United States?
- ... that the 2012 Olympic women's soccer semifinal between the Canadian and the American national teams was called "the greatest knockout match in major-tournament football" since 1982?
- ... that Jewish refugee Kurt S. Adler, who started one of the largest importers of Christmas decorations to the United States, was called "America’s Father Christmas" by the magazine German Life in 2002?
- ... that as documented in The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932, fewer than a quarter of the United States' counties voted for the same party in every presidential election from 1896 to 1932?
- ... that John Oliver has been credited with influencing United States law and culture, a phenomenon dubbed the "John Oliver effect"?
- ... that the August 2014 United States floods set rainfall records across cities in several states, including Michigan, Maine, and New York?
Selected society biography -
His rise to fame began in 1827 on reports of the Sandbar Fight. What began as a duel between two other men deteriorated into a melee in which Bowie, having been shot and stabbed, killed the sheriff of Rapides Parish with a large knife. This and other stories of Bowie's prowess with the knife led to the widespread popularity of the Bowie knife.
Bowie's reputation was cemented by his role in the Texas Revolution. After moving to Texas in 1830, Bowie became a Mexican citizen and married the daughter of the vice governor of the province. At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Bowie joined the Texas militia, leading forces at the Battle of Concepcion and the Grass Fight. In January 1836, he arrived at the Alamo, where he commanded the volunteer forces until an illness left him bedridden. Bowie died with the other Alamo defenders on March 6. Despite conflicting accounts of the manner of his death, the "most popular, and probably the most accurate" accounts maintain that he died in his bed after emptying his pistols into several Mexican soldiers.
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Selected culture biography -
Robinson was also known for his pursuits outside the baseball diamond. He was the first black television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first black vice-president of a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem, New York. In recognition of his achievements on and off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
Selected location -
Nearly 60% of Minnesota's residents live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area known as the Twin Cities. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; eastern deciduous forests, also heavily farmed and settled; and the less populated northern boreal forest. The state's image of being populated by whites of Nordic and German descent has some truth, but diversity is increasing; substantial influxes of African, Asian, and Latin American immigrants have joined the descendants of European immigrants and of the original Native American inhabitants.
The extremes of the climate contrast with the moderation of Minnesota’s people. The state is known for its moderate-to-progressive politics and social policies, its civic involvement, and high voter turnout. It ranks among the healthiest states by a number of measures, and has one of the most highly educated and literate populations.
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Anniversaries for July 21
- 1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.
- 1899 – Ernest Hemingway, author of such classics of American literature as A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, is born.
- 1925 – In Dayton, Tennessee, the Scopes Trial concludes. High school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and is fined $100.
- 1938 – Janet Reno, the first female United States Attorney General, is born.
- 1969 – Having landed on the moon late the previous day, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, as part of the Apollo 11 mission.
- 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (pictured), also known as Old Ironsides, celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/SoulFoodMeal.jpg/220px-SoulFoodMeal.jpg)
Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. It originated in the American South from the cuisines of enslaved Africans trafficked to the North American colonies through the Atlantic slave trade during the Antebellum period and is closely associated (but not to be confused with) the cuisine of the American South.
The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. Soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas. (Full article...)Selected panorama -
More did you know? -
- ... that the Ysleta Mission (pictured) is the oldest parish in the state of Texas, and is built on the oldest continuously cultivated plot of land in the United States?
- ... that during World War I the United States Army recruited over 28,000 soldiers for the Spruce Production Division, which harvested Sitka spruce in the Pacific Northwest?
- ... that the Hall XPTBH, a patrol torpedo bomber, was the only aircraft that ever received three mission designation letters in the U.S. Navy's aircraft designation system?
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