THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES

1950 World Cup — America’s amateurs take on the British “Kings of Football.” Do you believe in miracles?

HEROESThe AtticDecember 9, 2022The Game of their Lives, World Cup, Soccer, Football Comments

ALICE IN AUTOLAND

Automobiles were for men, men, men. Then Alice Ramsey and friends set out coast-to-coast — in 1909.

HEROESThe AtticOctober 13, 2022Alice Huylar Ramsey, Early automobiles, Maxwell automobiles, Automotive history Comments

THE ATTIC READS: NOT TOO LATE

Think it’s too late to do anything about global warming? Think again.

BOOK-ISH, HEROESThe AtticSeptember 21, 2022Rebecca Solnit, Global warming, Not too Late, Optimism, Environmental Movement, Environmental movement, Greenhouse gases, Global activism Comment

WHERE THE HEROES LIVE

Think there are few heroes in our cynical age? The Carnegie Hero Fund knows thousands.

HEROESThe AtticSeptember 1, 2022Carnegie Hero Fund, Andrew Carnegie, Heroes, American heroes Comment

W.E.B. DUBOIS AND THE GREAT RACE DEBATE

When W.E.B. DuBois debated Lothrop Stoddard, white supremacy was laughed off the stage.

TEACHERS, HEROESThe AtticJuly 14, 2022W.E.B. DuBois, Lothrop Stoddard, Race in America, Racial debate, eugenics, The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy Comments

THE WOMAN WHO INSULTED HITLER

Booted out of the Reich, Dorothy Thompson warned Americans of Nazis in their midst. Was anyone listening?

HEROESThe AtticJuly 7, 2022Dorothy Thompson, Hitler, Nazism, American Journalism, "It Can't Happen Here", Sinclair Lewis Comments

GRAND DAME OF THE GLADES

Neighbors considered it a swamp but Marjory Stoneman Douglas saved the Everglades and inspired a generation.

HEROESBruce WatsonJune 9, 2022Marjory Stoneman Douglas, The Everglades, Conservation, Environmental movement, Parkland shootings Comments

THE MENSCH WHO SAVED A LANGUAGE

Like the old folks who spoke it, Yiddish was dying out. Then Aaron Lanky rented a truck and. . . Mazel tov!

HEROES, BOOK-ISHThe AtticApril 21, 2022National Yiddish Book Center, Aaron Lansky, Yiddish language, Yiddish culture Comments

RFK -- "MAKE GENTLE THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD"

"Do they know about Martin Luther King?" Robert Kennedy asked as he stepped before the crowd.

History, HEROESThe AtticApril 9, 2022RFK, MLK, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King assassination, 1968 Comments

FRANCES PERKINS -- THE WOMAN WHO BROUGHT YOU THE WEEKEND

FDR was lukewarm on Labor until Frances Perkins masterminded Social Security, minimum wage, workmen’s comp. . . You’re welcome!

Women, HEROESThe AtticMarch 25, 2022Frances Perkins, FDR, New Deal, Labor History Comments

THE NEWS IN WHITE AND BLACK

When Jim Crow whitened American newspapers, the Chicago Defender spread news about “the Race.”

HEROESThe AtticFebruary 10, 2022Chicago Defender, African-American history, Negro press, Robert Sengstacke Abbott, Black Migration, The Great Migration Comments

MLK'S EPIC LETTER

From behind bars, King wrote an amazing letter with all the power of his dream.

HEROESThe AtticJanuary 13, 2022Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, Birmingham 1963, Civil Rights Movement Comments

WHEN 'WE SHALL OVERCOME' WENT VIRAL

When voting rights hinged on Selma, LBJ stunned the nation with a single phrase.

HEROESThe AtticDecember 7, 2021LBJ, MLK, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Voting Rights Act, Selma alabama, We shall overcomeComment

GERTRUDE EDERLE, QUEEN OF THE WAVES

Gertrude Ederle not only swam the English Channel. She swam it faster than anyone — man or woman. (As seen in “Young Woman and the Sea.”)

HEROES, ATTIC AT THE MOVIESThe AtticDecember 3, 2021Gertrude Ederle, English Channel, English Channel swim, 1920s, Women heroies, Women's athletics, Swimming, Ederle Swim Comment

THE SONGS THAT SAVED THE WHALES

Humpbacks had been singing since forever but no one heard until Roger Payne — and Judy Collins — made the world listen.

HEROESThe AtticOctober 14, 2021Humpback whales, Roger Payne, Save the Whales, Greenpeace, The Song that saved the whales, Judy Collins, Farewell to Tarwaithe, Whales and Nightengales Comment

LITTLE MISS SURE SHOT -- ANNIE OAKLEY

Legends of the Old West were hard, tough men. But then there was Annie Oakley.

HEROESThe AtticSeptember 23, 2021Annie Oakley, Westerns, Western legends, Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill, Wild West Comment