askhistorians

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Black Panther members once openly carried firearms and would stand nearby when the police pulled over a black person. They would shout advice, like the fact that the person could remain silent, and assured them that they'd be there to help if anything went wrong. Why did this stop?	16182
Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman served as co-chairs of Planned Parenthood. Barry Goldwater’s wife was a founding member. George H.W. Bush, as a congressman, spoke in support of family planning on the house floor. When did Planned Parenthood and family planning become toxic to politicians?	7760
The Nazis attacked and occupied France, but only 10% of the population supported the French resistance. How could freedom fighters trying to liberate their own country be so wildly unpopular?	6404
Abraham Lincoln was self-educated and spent his youth in sparsely populated rural areas. He'd never seen a play before arriving in Washington D.C. and becoming president, but became an avid theatergoer. Was he regarded as uncultured or a bit of a bumpkin by the elites in Washington?	5679
Popular culture depicts Britain as an isolated island in the Atlantic facing the might of fascist Europe alone after France's fall during WWII. But the UK was a huge empire with the manpower reserves, industry, and riches of India, Africa, Canada, and Australia. How overmatched was it really?	5574
The American Medical Association acts a bit like a cartel — limiting the number of medical schools and medical school students, and thus the total doctors. Have doctors always done this in the US? Why and when did they start?	5304
Students enrolled at Princeton at age 13 in the colonial era. Were they at a similar level of academic achievement as today's 18-year old enrollees? Were they considered adults?	4998
We hear a lot about the Aztecs, but the Purepecha Empire next door was almost their equal in size and kept the Aztecs at bay militarily. Was the Purepecha Empire a state of similar standing? Why don't we hear more about it?	4953
The Romans looked at Germania as an expensive place to conquer that wouldn't bring in enough revenue to be worthwhile. But 500 years later, Charlemagne gladly conquered Bavaria and Saxony. Had the Germans become rich and worth conquering? What did Charlemagne see that the Romans did not?	4774
"This. Isn’t. Sparta.” by historian Bret Devereaux argues that Sparta was a horrible place to live, had poorly educated citizens, was militarily mediocre, culturally stagnant, and was ruled by elites who were pretty crappy too. Anything inaccurate in that assessment?	4745

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