When I was watching Hidden Figures, I was struck by the fact that all of the Mercury astronauts were white (duh), which got me wondering about the history of racial integration of the US space program. I Googled it and the first African-American astronaut flew in 1983, first Asian-American in 1985, and first Latino in 1986.

Why did it take so long for non-white US astronauts to be accepted into the program and be picked for space flight? I'm sure racism was a factor (duh) but were there applicants much earlier on? Were there any non-white applicants for the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo programs era? Were there deliberate discriminatory policies at NASA, an informal racist policy that trashed non-white applications, or did they set requirements that only whites were likely to have met at that time in US history?

Subquestion, I know John Glenn did insist on Katherine Johnson double-checking the numbers for his flight (though not waiting on the launchpad) but is there any historical evidence that he was more friendly with the African-American NASA staff than the rest of the Mercury astronauts, as the movie depicts?

Thanks!

I've been reading The Fall of Berlin and in the book it seems that Stalin was often in contact with his generals and seems to be actively involved in the planning of attacks (especially concerning the acquiring of Nuclear projects in Berlin).

Was Stalin during the course of the war as involved as Hitler? Did he try to micromanage his armies during the course of the war like Hitler or did he have more confidence in his generals? If Stalin took an active approach, are there any examples of mistakes or major military achievements by Stalin?

I'm sure there are many different answers to this question depending on location, but I'm not interested in any area in particular.

My Google searches seem to state that plans such as Werwolf were around, but nothing really took hold. Was this due to German culture, overwhelming military power from the allies, lack of leadership? I know it's odd to ask why things didn't happen, but this seems like it would've been expected from the extremists such as the SS and other hardliners.

I was recently part of a discussion exploring how math education is important because learning to solve problems mathematically is a more universal skill than it first seems. We internalize the way algebra teaches us to solve problems, and then approach them in that way. Would the invention of algebra have actually changed the way the people approached problem solving? Or is it more that people who used arithmetic as a regular part of their jobs were already approaching things in this way, and the treatise on algebra was more of an exploration of something that already existed?

I find it odd that people would accept the casualties that came from the inevitable standoffs, if nothing else.

The US's comfortable position isolated by oceans is often used as an explanation of how it could dominate militarily as a world superpower (easy defenses). But Canada shares the same advantage. Did Canada simply choose not to focus as much on empire building, or were there other factors that would give the US the clear advantage?

Some names have lived on through the ages, in a way ensuring that person is not forgotten. We have early English Kings like William, we have Roman Emperor​s before that, and Greek writers before them. I'm sure there are Persian or Mesopotamian figures whose names are mentioned and recorded even before that. So who is the oldest known person that we know the name of? And how sure are we that they were really a person, not a god or a legend or figurative reference or something along those lines?

All of the major Roman books that we have are copies of copies of copies produced during the late Middle Ages. The oldest copies that we have date from the 1100s, and describe events nearly 1000 years earlier. How do we know that these texts aren't fabrications?

He seems like an accomplished president overall. But there a lot of downsides too.

Edit: In EU4, A Personal Union is where two (or more) states are ruled by the same monarch while staying fundamentally different countries with their own laws, government, etc. and given enough time and effort one state could be fully integrated by the other.

In the game, a Personal Union is represented as one state becoming the overlord of another due to the monarch of the first state claiming the throne of the second, usually through inheritance. The second state acts much like a "vassal", or "junior partner" of the first, unable to fully dictate foreign policy and dependent on the first state for progress. After enough in-game time has passed, the first state can try to integrate and annex the second state into the first completely.

Was there a glitzy underworld to be found like in the USA during prohibition?

Last night, I had a "Military Ball" with my JROTC program, where we have flag folding ceremonies, toasts, (no, they did not outright give us alcohol, you'd have to go into the parking lot for that) etc - it's a rather big deal for us. I brought a Greek girl who was pretty confused with the whole process.

So I check up on my feed on Reddit and here's a dude with a tattoo of Denmark with the Danish flag - and people are saying, "Eww, a nationalist!" which confused me more. Why is pride nationalistic?

Finally, I went on a r/ShitAmericansSay and got very confused when I found a parking sign designated for a veteran (Or a purple heart? I forget) when stating it was common on the in the US, I got downvoted to oblivion. When I asked "Why is it weird?" I another wave of downvotes hit.

Why is patriotism not more common? Or do us Americans just take it out of reason?

How did the Japanese and German people react to the imposition of the American Military and bases after WW2, and how do they feel about them now? Edit - the

Hello,

I've recently finished reading Robert Harris' Rome trilogy. It's about Ciceros fictional biography, written by his secretary, Tiro. Tiro did write Ciceros biography, but all his texts were lost in the sack of Rome. The question is, how accurate do you think the Robert Harris' version of the biography is in general? I've been trying to look for some clarification from internet but found none.

Edit: A bonus question: Who wrote the Cato's memorial speech? I've heard it was Cicero but some people it was ordered by M. Brutus.

If it was to count the dead would it not have been more accurate to count the tongues as there was no chance of duplicates?

When I was a kid I was super into flags. I noticed however that most flags in the world followed a rectangular shape and bars, like Poland (and the countries with recolours), France (and the countries with recolours), and Germany (and the countries with recolours). Why is that so?