AskHistorians

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How did people have meetup times before clocks? How did the average person "get up on time" for work? How did they know when to arrive to be "on time" throughout history before clocks?	90
According to the NAACP, between 1882 and 1968 27.3% of lynchings in the USA where of white people... How come? What were the most common reasons for lynchings of white people? NAACP provides some brief answers but what are the more in-depth reasons? (Sources inside)	88
Scarecrows are frequently depicted in any imagery involving farms dating back many years. Yet I never see any scarecrows in the majority of farm fields today. Were scarecrows widespread previously? When did their use decrease?	75
Is the depiction of a person pulling a cart of bodies shouting "Bring out your dead!" for people to pile bodies on during the Bubonic Plague an accurate one? Who was this person? How did they get stuck with what must have been one of the worst and dangerous jobs at the time?	73
I am an American WWII bomber crew member... my plane just got mortally wounded... what are the chances I survive? (How likely am I to be able to bail out?)	68
Are there any historical reasons for why Asia in general has such a large population?	66
Why do martial competitions (boxing, kick boxing, MMA, etc.) often involve winning a belt rather than a traditional trophy? Where did the belt traditional start?	64
Did the Soviet Union have any specialized spy planes like the US's U-2 or SR-71? What were they and what was their operational history like? Or why didn't the SU invest in specialized spy planes?	58
Was Hades considered bad or evil by ancient Greeks? And, if not, when/how did the change into seeing him as evil happen?	52
Was there any sort of deficit in tradesmen, craftsmen, in acadamia, etc. due to the holocaust in the following years? Did the various groups of people being exterminated leave certain trades crippled due to the most experienced workers being killed or displaced?	49

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