The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History

by Sharon McMahon

have learned that no one reaches their final moments of mortal existence and whispers to their loved ones, “I wish I had gotten in some more sick burns in the comments section on Facebook.”

So no, America is not “the worst it’s ever been” today, despite what some news anchors might be trying to convince you of, because if they can make you afraid, they can gain your attention and your money. Has anyone been beaten half to death on the floor of the Senate over the topic of whether it’s cool to enslave people this week? No? Okay.

Richmond was the city in which Patrick Henry, the founding father known as the “lion of liberty,” said, “I will not, I cannot, justify owning slaves,” but who never freed any of the human beings under his control. Richmond was where he launched the phrase “Give me liberty or give me death!” in an impassioned speech in 1775, while never offering liberty to the people he enslaved. Liberty was apparently only for me, but not for thee.

Women’s health was poorly understood at the time, and it was a common belief among men that pursuing too much education made a woman unfit for childbearing, as it diverted too great a blood supply to the brain and away from reproductive organs. Durant

Humans aren’t so much afraid of failure as they are of having people watch them fail. The shame doesn’t come from not scaling the summit, it’s from the people who judge you for not having succeeded.