Cool Videos and March Tales

THE LORAX

The Lorax - a new film based on the book by Dr. Seuss - is causing excitement in movie theaters across North America.  Our companion story, which features four areas of the world where deforestation is still a major problem, is filled with videos, pictures, supporting primary sources and ... questions to ponder.   

HILARIOUS ANIMATION - THE STORY of SAINT PATRICK

In the 1960s, an Irish teacher named Peig Cunningham - who worked in North Dublin - duped her elementary-aged students into thinking their class recitations would be heard on the radio. Improbably ... they were, albeit decades later.  Then ... one of those audio recordings, about St. Patrick, was used to create an animation about Ireland's patron saint. We provide a clip for your St. Patrick's Day enjoyment.

ANIMALS as DEFENDANTS

For more than a thousand years, animals were periodically tried as defendants throughout Europe.  From moles which were prosecuted in 824 to a dog which was accused in 1906, the stories - almost impossible to believe - are based on compiled records.

RED TAILS

The Tuskegee Airmen were African-American pilots initially denied the right to fly U.S. military planes during World War II.  Featured in a recent film called Red Tails, these airmen became some of the most-valued bomber-escort pilots in Europe.  In our story behind the film, learn how Eleanor Roosevelt helped to work around the U.S. government's policy of military discrimination against African-Americans.     

SNOW WHITE - MIRROR, MIRROR

A new live-action film, about "Snow White," opens later in March.  Did you know ... the Brothers Grimm likely based their fairy tale on a real girl who lived in the Middle Ages?  Meet the real Snow White - and see the actual "talking mirror" - in our story behind the film.   

NOTE:    We will activate the link on, or before, March 22.  (Before then, you will land on the "Whoops" page.)

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Commemorate "International Women's Day" - on March 9th - by remembering the struggle to vote.  The story is depicted in this series of videos.

VISUAL VOCABULARY BUILDERS

Explore a new feature at Awesome Stories - our Visual Vocabulary Builders.  Currently, they support fourteen stories (with 140 words and pictures).

RADIO BROADCASTS at AWESOME STORIES

The editor of Awesome Stories frequently talks about our new stories on the radio.  You can listen to some of those broadcasts - and - you can also hear some of the best radio plays from "yesteryear," such as Les Miserables, A Tale of Two Cities, Dracula, The Count of Monte Cristo, Treasure Island, Mutiny on the Bounty and more!

NEWSLETTERS ONLINE

Because it's much easier to share our newsletters with a stand-alone URL (rather than as an email), we have created a separate URL for this month's edition.  You can access it at any time.

AWESOME STORIES ... IN THE NEWS

In case you missed it ... Awesome Stories, and the site's editor, were featured in a major news profile. Take a look at the story and its pictures.
 

We are using Twitter, between monthly newsletters, to profile current and historical events. To stay on top of things, click the link above, sign up and off you go!

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SALEM WITCH TRIALS

On the 1st of March, 1692, Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and a servant named Tituba were arrested for "witchcraft" in the village of Salem. The situation led to one of the darkest times in early American history. What caused the hysteria of the "Salem Witch Trials" era?

DRESDEN - SMASHED to ATOMS

Following heavy RAF bombardment on the German city of Dresden, during February of 1945, America's 8th Air Force bombed the city - again - on the 2nd of March. Not just reduced to rubble, Dresden - according to one of its city officials - had been "smashed to atoms."

JOHN DILLINGER - JAIL BREAK with a WOODEN PISTOL

On the 3rd of March - 1933 - John Dillinger was in the Lake County jail, in Crown Point (Indiana). Reportedly using a homemade gun, which he'd fashioned from a wooden washboard, Dillinger escaped confinement. After his jail break, Dillinger stole a car - the sheriff's - and drove it over state lines. That was a federal offense, enabling J. Edgar Hoover and the special agents of the Bureau of Investigation (the predecessor of the FBI) to pursue Dillinger.

FDR - FIRST INAUGURAL - "FEAR ITSELF" 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the last American president to take the oath of office in March. Thereafter, a constitutional amendment moved inaugural dates to January 20th. Becoming president during a time of national crisis, FDR told the American people (and the people of the world):   "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

CHURCHHILL and the IRON CURTAIN

On the 5th of March, 1946, Winston Churchill was no longer Prime Minister of Britain. He'd been voted-out of office the year before, but Churchill was never really out of politics. Invited to give a speech in Fulton, Missouri, the elder statesman coined the phrase of an era when he said that an "iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

SR-71 - FASTEST PLANE SETS A RECORD

On the 6th of March, 1990, an SR-71 Blackbird set a speed record when it flew across the United States in 67 minutes and 54 seconds.  The amazing plane averaged 2,124 miles per hour during the trip.

HELEN KELLER GETS A TEACHER

Before Anne Sullivan became her teacher, Helen Keller was incorrigibly unruly. Locked inside a dark world, where she could neither see nor hear, the child caused major disruptions in her family's life. Then ... on the 3rd of March, 1887, Sullivan joined the Keller household. Step by step, she began to help Helen change her world.

"NOSFERATU" 

On the 5th of March, 1922, "Nosferatu" - a silent film based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" - premiered in Berlin. For many film scholars, the work still defines the horror genre.

FIRE BOMBS over TOKYO

During March of 1945, American B-29 bombers began to fly incendiary-bomb missions over Tokyo. Move the video forward - to 3:45 - to see what happened to the Japanese people, and their capital city, on the night of March 9/10, 1945.

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER - ARRIVAL at MARS

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - known as the MRO - arrived at Mars on the 10th of March, 2006 after traveling seven months.  What is the MRO - and - how does it work?

SENDAI EARTHQUAKE and TSUNAMI

After a massive 8.9 earthquake occurred near Sendai, Japan - on March 11, 2011 - a deadly tsunami came ashore.  The closed-circuit television system at Sendai airport recorded what happened as sea water paralyzed the airport.

SENDAI EARTHQUAKE - CHAOS in a GROCERY STORE

When the Sendai earthquake struck, on the afternoon of March 11th, people in Japan were going about their daily business.  Grocery-store workers and shoppers alike dealt with the chaos which erupted as goods started to fly-off the shelves.

FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EXPLOSION

The day after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake impacted Japan, a nuclear power plant at the Fukushima complex exploded.  This clip shows what happened.

JULIUS CAESAR and the IDES of MARCH

On the 15th of March - in 44 B.C. - Julius Caesar (dictator of Rome) was assassinated by three of his close associates. This animated version, of Shakespeare's play, summarizes what happened on that world-changing day.

DISCOVERY of ANTI-MATTER

On the 15th of March, 1962, five research groups announced the discovery of anti-matter. What is anti-matter? Can scientists create it in CERN's "Large Hadron Collider?

JAPANESE-AMERICANS - RELOCATED

On the 18th of March, 1942, the U.S. government established the War Relocation Authority to take Japanese-Americans into custody.  The reasoning behind this relocation of American citizens is explained in a government-produced film.

TUSKEGEE EXPERIMENT - 99TH PURSUIT SQUADRON 

The first African-American pilot squadron - known as the 99th Pursuit - became active on the 19th of March, 1941.  It was known as the "Tuskegee Experiment."

"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN"

Originally published on March 20, 1852, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" - a book by Harriet Beecher Stowe - was vitally important as an American anti-slavery tool during the country's pre-civil war years. In recent times, however, negative views of the work (and its stereotypical characters) have overshadowed its contemporary significance.

EINSTEIN'S THEORY of GENERAL RELATIVITY

Isaac Newton discovered the concept of gravity, but no one before Einstein figured out what caused gravity.  Einstein's insight - known as his general theory of relativity - is that all massive bodies, like stars and galaxies, bend (or curve) space and time.  When other objects - like the Earth - pass through that curvature, they experience the curvature's impact.  It is this bending, or curving, of space and time which causes gravity.  Put differently, one could say that gravity is the curvature of space and time.  This video helps to explain Einstein's theory of general relativity (which he published on March 20, 1916).

BATTLE of the SOMME - HISTORIC FOOTAGE

Hoping to break through the Allied line - before U.S. reinforcements arrived - German troops launched the second battle of the Somme on March 21, 1918.  This clip, from the first battle of the Somme, depicts what it was like to be in the trenches.  According to the U.K. National Archives, the film from which this clip is excerpted "proved more popular than the official films that the War Office had made during the war..."   

A VISIT TO TITAN - SATURN'S LARGEST MOON

In the mid-seventeenth century, Christiaan Huygens discovered Saturn's largest moon - known as Titan - on the 25th of March, 1655.  Centuries later, a probe called Huygens - delivered from a spacecraft called Cassini - paid a visit to Titan.  This video depicts what the probe "saw" as it made its descent to Titan's surface.

TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE

March 25, 1911 was a Saturday - a beautiful day.  Everyone who worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, in New York City, was looking forward to Sunday - their only non-working day. Some of the girls were singing, and quitting time was not far off.  Then ... they saw flames in their workplace.  

DEATH of BEETHOVEN

On the 26th of March, 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven died a very painful death. What happened to cause his death - and - how did he spend his last months?

UNDERSTANDING BEETHOVEN'S 5TH SYMPHONY

Beethoven died on the 26th of March, 1827. Still regarded as one of the most important composers in the world, Beethoven was a legend in his own lifetime. In this clip, go back in time to the early days of television to watch Leonard Bernstein explain Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

BEETHOVEN'S MUSIC - 2ND MOVEMENT, 7TH SYMPHONY

Some lovers of classical music consider the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony to be one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. See it performed by the Berlin Philharmonic (under the direction of Herbert Von Karajan who never looks at a score and keeps his eyes shut throughout).

DISASTER at TENERIFE

The world's worst airline accident happened on the island of Tenrife, in the Canaries, on the 27th of March, 1977. Although 583 people died (when two Boeing 747s collided as one of them tried to take-off), some individuals aboard one of the planes - a Pan American jet - survived. This video includes their stories and recreates what happened when KLM Flight 4805 struck Pan Am Flight 1736. 

 VIRGINIA WOOLF - SURVIVING VOICE RECORDING

EIFFEL TOWER

The Eiffel Tower draws about 7 million annual visitors, but most people may not realize it was originally slated for a very short lifespan.  A single vote, in favor of retaining the wonder of Paris, kept the tower from being disassembled twenty years after it was erected.   

POLL TAX - RIOTS in BRITAIN

MARCH HIGHLIGHTS

YELLOWSTONE - THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK

"REMEMBER THE ALAMO"

The Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836. A few days later - on March 6 - the Alamo fell. The massacre led to the rally cry: "Remember the Alamo!" Thanks to the Texas State Archives, significant primary sources help us to study the events.  

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

If it hadn't been for Doc Beanes, Francis Scott Key may never have found himself on a Royal Navy ship as the British attacked Ft. McHenry. Had he not been on the ship, Key may not have written his famous poem - which officially became America's national anthem on March 3, 1931. Learn the story and see the famous, now-restored flag.   

MOUNT RUSHMORE

On the 3rd of March, 1933, Mt. Rushmore was dedicated. What made anyone decide to carve the heads of presidents on the side of a mountain?   

STORY of HELEN KELLER

One of the most remarkable people who ever lived, Helen Keller overcame many obstacles as she learned how to communicate. Not only that, she worked around blindness and deafness to graduate from college, write books and travel the world. Her whole world changed, in March of 1887, when Annie Sullivan showed her how to talk with her fingers.   

AMISTAD CAPTIVES are FREED

On the 9th of March, 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court set the Amistad captives free. They were not slaves, said the court, and they should be free to return to their own country. A former American President - John Quincy Adams - represented the Amistad captives and had eloquently argued for their release. The high court's decision was not cheered by everyone.   

HARRIET TUBMAN

On the 10th of March, in a disputed year, Harriet Tubman was born "Araminta Ross." She became one of the most famous "conductors" of the Underground Railroad. What, exactly, was the underground railroad - and - how did it work?  

SPANISH FLU PANDEMIC

With the world already at war, something even more terrible developed during March of 1918. Soldiers in Kansas began to get sick - really sick. Their illness, which soon spread to various places throughout the world, eventually caused more deaths than all the fighting of World War One.  That illness is now known as "Spanish Flu."    

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE and THE SCARLET LETTER

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

The legends of St. Patrick's day go beyond "wearing of the green." Before all the celebrations, and stories about shamrocks, a real person lived and died in Ireland. Who was St. Patrick? (Hint ... he wasn't born Irish.)  

INVENTION of COCA COLA

In March of 1886, Dr. John Pemberton created a secret formula for a drink he called Coca-Cola. A few years later, he sold his rights to the product for a mere $2,000. Until 1905, the popular drink contained the cocaine alkaloid.  

SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE

During the apartheid years, South Africans were required to carry passbooks - in their own country. On the 21st of March, 1960, unarmed people were protesting the hated laws when a massacre erupted. After the police stopped firing on the crowd, 69 people were dead and 180 more were wounded. Today, South Africa remembers the event on "Human Rights Day."  

STAMP ACT - A SURVIVING "STAMP"

One act of Parliament, which really infuriated the American colonists, was passed on the 22nd of March, 1765.  The intent of the "Stamp Act" was to collect significant taxes from the Americans.  This photo depicts one of the much-despised stamps.

DISCOVERY OF TITAN - SATURN'S LARGEST MOON

A Dutchman named Christiaan Huygens made a remarkable discovery on March 25, 1655. With the use of his relatively powerful telescope, he "found" Titan, Saturn's largest moon.  

THOMAS JEFFERSON - "THE SILENT MEMBER"

On the 27th of March, 1775, a man who did not enjoy public speaking was elected to the Continental Congress. Because of that reluctance to speak, in public, Thomas Jefferson became known as "the silent member" of Congress. Who was he?  

VAN GOGH'S VASE with 15 SUNFLOWERS

During his lifetime, Vincent van Gogh's art did not sell. After his death, by suicide, people recognized his genius. On the 30th of March, 1987, a single van Gogh painting - "Vase with 15 Sunflowers" - sold for $39.5 million. Have a look.  

ALASKA PURCHASE

On the 30th of March, 1867, America purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. William Seward, wounded in an assassination attempt the night President Lincoln was killed, had lived long enough to see one of his greatest dreams come true. Not everyone agreed that buying Alaska made sense. To some, the purchase was known as "Seward's Folly." See the original purchase documents, including the paid "warrant."  

ABIGAIL ADAMS - "REMEMBER the LADIES"

The site has a blazing-fast search for each database. Choose the one you need (images, videos, audio, etc.), and you will immediately get the "search" feature for that database. "Search," at the top right of the site, is for story text.