askhistorians

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One of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s many accomplishments was to help formalize that a woman could sign a mortgage and/or have a bank account without a man. What were the legal justifications behind denying women these basic rights? What arguments were by those who wanted women to have these rights?	7262
In "The Breakfast Club"(1984, Shermer, Illinois), Claire (Molly Ringwald) brings out sushi and soy sauce for lunch. None of the other students have heard of sushi, a clear example to the audience of how prissy she is. Why did sushi for lunch= prissy? Was Japanese food not a staple takeout food yet?	5131
In the Sherlock Holmes stories, Holmes has a little band of “street Arabs” (homeless kids) he pays to be his eyes and ears. Was giving a homeless kid a sixpence to run an errand commen back then, or does this just show how “bohemian” Holmes is in the stories? Why are they called street Arabs?	4358
What was so appealing about the bra that it completely replace the corset? From my understanding the corset had been around a long time, why was it done away with relatively quickly?	3751
Documents from many huge companies were sent flying over Manhattan after the towers fell. Was any confidential information unintentionally gleaned from these files? Was there a concerted recovery effort to ensure client privacy, or did people focus on the obviously graver issues at hand	3667
I’ve just learned that “human zoos” were pretty popular in Germany from the late 1800s until the Nazis came into power. What happened to the people in these “zoos” once the Nazis happened? What about their children/families?”	259
The internet is full of stories about Nikola Tesla being a tragic victim of Thomas Edison’s greed and capitalistic ambitions. Is there any merit to this reading of their relationship? If not, where did this reading come from?	198
I have a rotary phone in front of me and dialed 911. In an emergency, the amount of time it takes for the 9 to go around is really long. Why didn’t they choose a faster number for emergencys, like 111?	191
During and after slavery was abolished in the US, did business market themselves as “slave-labor free” the same way something today is marked “cruelty free?” More generally, how did businesses capitalize on abolitionist sentiments during and after slavery was ended?	152
It’s a point of pride for many Trekkies to say Star Trek was the driving force behind modern fandom. However, I’ve also read the same about Sherlock Holmes. What is the history of fandom, either modern or ur?	146

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