In most temperate and (sub)polar regions of the world, the indigenous people have evolved relatively pale skin, due to lack of sunlight needed for the body to produce Vitamin D. I'm aware that Inuits aren't as pale as Europeans, but even they could hardly be said to have black skin. I was just wondering if the native peoples of Tasmania were also considerably paler than their mainland cousins, given that Tasmania annually receives roughly the same amount of sunlight as, say, Central France, and if they didn't, why not? I have seen pictures of people like Truganini etc, but obviously it's very hard to tell skin colour from black-and-white photos from the 19th Century.

His committees of correspondence were integral to supplanting British colonial government. It was he who started the Independence movement in the first place. How come government and society today place the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln on our coins and currency, but fail to include Samuel Adams? Why is Andrew Jackson, who was in favor of eradicating entire Native American populations, on the twenty dollar bill, and not Samuel Adams?

It seems Sam Adams'--arguably America's most important Founding Father--popularity has been eclipsed by the beer brand that bears his name.

I was told such a work hasn't been written since the 70's, and that it would be impossible to do one today. The reason is

...it would have to involve the death of grand theory, the inherent inconsistencies in Greek polytheism, the lack of any category of 'religion' among the Greeks, the variety of fringe religious phenomena, the incompatibility between trying to describe religious practice as as outsider vs understanding religious experiences as an insider, the difficulty of ancient sources (especially sources describing inner thoughts), the incompatibility between ancient and modern concepts, how do we reconcile modern anthropological findings on religion (both 'hard' and 'soft' science findings) with the ancient world, and then how we can convey all these differences to readers who hold a Christian normative notion of religion.

What are the problems caused by each of these things, how do they differ from pre-70's interpretation of Greek mythology, and how do they prevent a modern comprehensive work on Greek religion?

Business cards, credit cards, insurance cards ... etc all are rectangular. Are there historic relevance and reason why they became the norm?

What about Mettellus Numidicus?

Hi, I would like to apologize in advance if this is the wrong place for this sort of question.

I am from Rochester, New York, which is a city that had a fairly deep history with the old patent medicine industry via H.H. Warner, a local man who made millions in the 1870's-1880's from the sale of safes and then his own brand of patent medicines. I know that H.H. Warner lost his incredible fortune through a series of bad business decisions as well as the panic of 1893, but learning about this local mans' story really piqued my interest in the patent medicine industry as a whole.

Do any of you guys know any books that might be a good history of this industry's rise and fall? Ive seen a listing on Amazon for a book by Erika Janik, but that seems to be more through the lens of the modern natural food movement.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys might have, I really appreciate it!

If a phalanx of phalangites and a phalanx of hoplites squared off against each other, was it usually always the phalangites who would win? Not accounting for cavalry or other forces.

Also: I know the Roman maniple system was great against the Macedonian phalanx but what about against hoplites? My guess is that hoplites were harder to flank?

I can only find Total War players speculating on this on forums - I'd like to hear from you guys on a historical perspective. Thanks!

For years I have read that the FBI planned to embarrass MLK by releasing tapes that showed him cheating on his wife.

Is there any truth to this? Has a woman ever come forward? Or was this slander on the FBI's part?

I'm trying to compile as many primary source documents about the decisions, meetings, speeches leading up to the war, but I suppose I'm having trouble understanding specifically what events precipitated the shift from the Spanish-American War to the Philippine-American war?

Also I've been looking at editorials and cartoons found in American newspapers at the time, and greatly interested in how newspapers, photography, the nascent art of film covered the war(I've already found an interesting Edison newsreel of African American soldiers departing for the Philippines). And looking back at this discourse now, how have historians viewed issues of race, gender, class, etc.?

I know this is a lot and I don't expect all the questions will be answered but I want to try to get as much info as possible on the topic in question. Thank you, cheers!

I am doing a paper answering the question: To what extent Gil Scott-Heron’s poems represent the movement caused by the Black Panther Party?

And this (Revolution, or fad?) question popped up after I read "Comment #1"

Young, very young, teeny Bopping revolt on weekend young dig By proxy what a mental ass kicking They receive through institutionalized everything And vomit up slogans to stay out of Vietnam They seek to hide their relationship with the world's prostitute Alienating themselves from everything Except dirt and money with long hair, grime, and dope

If you could recommend me a book that talks about this, i will appreciate it a lot. Thanks /r/AskHistorians.

Suppose the slave is a second generation African, and also herself the product of rape by a white master, and was raped by her master. In that case I think the chances the baby would be white are high. What would happen to her baby?

Advent is supposed to be a time of preparation, but in modern times, it basically means Christmastime. Christmas is the culmination of the celebration, followed by a week of downtime, then New Years. Then it's over.

But according to the Liturgical Year, this is all backwards. The partying should start December 25th and go all the way into February.

Did this ever happen? How did things get mixed up?

After the failed Jacobite Rising in the 1740s, I know that many, many Scots immigrated to America, particularly the mid-coastal region, to escape famine and harsh penalties imposed by the English. What, if any, impact did these Scots have on relations with England leading up to and during the American Revolution?

So I was working with drywall this weekend and I got to thinking about how did the ancient plasterers get their plaster so smooth. From my understanding sandpaper is a fairly modern invention. Did they use sharp chisels to take off high spots after it hardened? Were they just that good that they didn't need any post work?

I mean really, they were working with materials that are far less forgiving than our modern blue board or drywall and yet you see some fabulous results.

If it's true , why wasn't it as famous as the other great civilizations during that period ?

Wasn't the media (broadcast television, radio, and newspapers) much more decentralized in ownership circa 1950s, 1960s than it is today? How many established newspapers existed in New York City then vs now? What was the state of mainstream media then?

What were some of the prevailing/notorious attitudes, biases, and/or spins surrounding the Civil Rights Movement amongst widely circulated media?

When a protest was planned/realized how was it covered in the press?

How does this compare and contrast the current state of mainstream consolidated media and civil disobedience?