Today we know Amazon as one of the big 5 technology companies in the U.S. Jeff Bezos started the company in his garage in 1994, and today it’s the most valuable retailer in the U.S. Some people reading this article; may have an Amazon Prime account, own a Kindle, have an Echo device in your home, grocery shop at Whole Foods, watch tv on a Fire stick, have a Ring camera system or just ordered stuff from Amazon and have it delivered to their home. All of these actions or things are under the Amazon umbrella and are essential in…

Earlier this year they announced that the Aunt Jemima pancake mix/ syrup brand changed its name to Pearl Milling Company. Aunt Jemima is a brand name that drips of a racial stereotype. Many know the infamous brand, but did you know the brand spawned a restaurant chain in the 1950s and 1960s?

In 1888, Chris L. Rutt and Charles G. Underwood purchased the Pearl Milling Company (hence the current name change). The pair of men were seeking to stand out in a crowded milling market and came up with a recipe for “Self-Rising Pancake Flour.” Rutt attended a minstrel show…

Our human society loves its traditions and norms. We follow traditions even when we don’t know the origins of said traditions. If it was good enough for our parents, grandparents and ancestors, it can’t be wrong, right? There are many “mores” that we consider morally wrong today, yet they are still in practice in our world. One of these “mores” is the act of domestic violence against one’s spouse or romantic partner.

In Roman Law, a husband had the right to chastise (physically abuse) his wife even to the point of death! This law was in the early stages of…

Carolco Pictures was an independent motion picture production company. Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna found it in 1976. They purchased the name Carolco from a defunct company in Panama; the name had no meaning.

Carolco came to prominence in Hollywood with the release of its movie First Blood, starring Sylvester Stallone in 1982. Kassar and Vajna bought the film rights to the First Blood book for $385,000. There was no guarantee the film would do well, but it did great, making $120 million worldwide.

With the success of First Blood, Carolco made a sequel that was released on America’s 10…

Before the 17th century, humans did not identify according to race. Humans identified according to tribal associations and nation state affiliations. The works of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach started the spark that would change the world’s thinking about race.

Blumenbach studied Craniometry. In 1779, in his work, he divided the human species into five races. These terms are the first time we see racial differentiation in the world. The five races are:

1. The Caucasian or white race, which includes people of European, Middle Eastern, and North African origins.

2. The Mongolian or yellow race, which includes all East Asians and…

Warren G. Harding was the 29th President of the United States. His Presidency was pretty nondescript and short due to him dying of a heart attack two years into his term. Harding’s Presidency is more known for the scandals, affairs and tomfoolery that went on during his term.

During Harding’s Presidential Campaign, The New York World, called Harding the least qualified candidate since James Buchanan, it deemed him a “weak and mediocre” man who “never had an original idea.” The New York Times described Harding as “ a very respectable Ohio politician of the second class.” …

Charles “Rich” Richard Patterson (C.R.), was born a slave in 1833 on a Virginia plantation. It’s unclear how he left the plantation, but he ended up in Greenfield, Ohio, where an Underground Railroad station existed. C.R. learned blacksmithing in Greenfield. He later worked as a foreperson for a carriage making company named J.P. Lowe & Company. C.R. would form a partnership with his white boss J.P., but the company would keep its original name with no mention of C.R.

In 1893, C.R. bought out the remaining shares of J.P. Lowe and changed the company’s name too, C.R. Patterson, Son &…

Esther Lee Jones, also known as Baby Esther or Lil Esther, was a child entertainer from Chicago, Illinois in the 1920s. She was a trained scat singer, dancer and acrobat. Esther’s career began when she won first prize in a Charleston contest at six. A theatre manager named Lou Bolton saw her performance and took her on as a client. Bolton set up performances for Esther in Chicago, New York, Detroit, Toronto and other cities which brought her to the attention of European theatres.

Tom Shayne served as the New York booking agent for Esther. He was also the booking…