Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

thingofnewyork:

needs-somesugar-in-his-bowl:

selkiecomrade:

Philip Schuyler was a general in the Continental Army as well as a businessman.  He was actually pretty good at it, and the British wanted to take him out of commission.  One night, a raiding party broke into the Schuyler house looking for him.  The family (Philip included) hid in an upstairs bedroom – when they realized that the baby was still in her cradle downstairs.

So, who volunteered to sneak through a house of armed men to get her?  Who got grabbed on the way back up and, still holding the baby, lied to their leader when he stuck a gun in her face and demanded to know where General Schuyler was?

Peggy.

*and

When they asked  her where he was, she responded something like “He has gone to get help.” which scared them all so much that they left the home before the back-up could arrive.

Peggy had her baby sister in her arms, her pregnant sisters and mother upstairs hiding, and a gun in her face and she managed to stay calm enough to save her family.

God bless Peggy Schuyler.

(Source: alx-972, via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

Anonymous asked: Why is Thomas Jefferson getting a ton of heat lately? He's my problematic fav

falsedetective:

holdmeclosertinydancy:

falsedetective:

i mean, lately, it’s presumably because the hit broadway musical hamilton is out there reminding everyone that tjeff was The Worst. but i’m gonna take this opportunity to give you a run-down of every historic reason why tjeff was The Worst

1. i could end the list at “slave owner”
2. furthermore, he was even more racist than most 18th century racists. i don’t have the time or energy to list all the racists things he did, but there are a lot, just google it
   
3. like when his pal tadeusz kosciuszko died he stipulated that the money from his american estate should be used to free and educate jefferson’s slaves and in response he was like. “i can’t read suddenly. i don’t know”
   
4. he was a huge hypocrite who claimed to support the ~small independent farmers when the only interests he really cared about looking out for were - you guessed it - the interests of wealthy plantation owners, which is probably his biggest contribution to the legacy of american politics tbh
   
5. also, remember how he wrote the declaration of independence - including the original draft where he waxed philosophical about how slavery is an abomination - even though #1-3
6. sally hemings
7. he had no idea how the economy works. a good deal of his political career was spent arguing with the federalists about why taxes are bad and banks are scary. one time he tried to ban exports, like, entirely, because he just didn’t foresee any negative consequences to that brilliant idea, apparently
   
8. he was a generally obnoxious person who not only spewed baseless accusations against his enemies every time he was challenged on all his horrible ideology, but he didn’t even have the balls to do it himself, he usually employed a whole gang of followers to do his public shit-talking for him
   
9. he actually kept a burn book where he collected rumors about people he didn’t like. i wish i was making this up lmao this actually happened!!!
10. a big fan of indian removal and/or forced assimilation
11. there’s gotta be a lot else i’m forgetting right now, i’m just thinking off the top of my head

basically he sat around at monticello spinning around in his swivel chair while his slave-concubine brought him bowl after bowl of mac and cheese, meditating on liberty and equality with so much moral myopia he could’ve been the antihero protagonist of an amc prestige drama

i’m too tired to source any of this hate right now but i can and will elaborate if anyone deems it necessary

im gonna need a source on the mac and cheese

tj loved mac and cheese so much that he had a macaroni machine shipped over from naples. he often served mac and cheese to his dinner guests, some of whom called it “very strong and not agreeable“ because this man can’t even do mac and cheese right

Anonymous asked: Harriet Tubman was cynical, she would force people to escape against their own will with a gun to their head. She has more flaws than you think.

mollyplier:

acquaintedwithrask:

factsinallcaps:

YEAH, YOU CAN MAKE ANYONE SOUND TERRIBLE IF YOU STRIP AWAY ENOUGH CONTEXT! 

YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE THERE WERE HAPPY SLAVES WHO WOULD HEAR A CLICK BEHIND THEM AND TURN TO SEE HARRIET TUBMAN SAYING “ESCAPE OR DIE, JERK, YOUR CHOICE.” THAT’S NOT HOW IT WENT DOWN. 

HARRIET TUBMAN WAS A CRIMINAL, WHICH I’M OKAY WITH BECAUSE THE LAW SHE WAS BREAKING WAS UNJUST, AND THAT’S WHY SHE PACKED HEAT. IF SHE WAS CAUGHT, SHE’D STAND A FIGHTING CHANCE OF DEFENDING THE PEOPLE SHE WAS ASSISTING. 

NOW, AS FOR “FORCING PEOPLE TO ESCAPE AGAINST THEIR OWN WILL.” THE PEOPLE SHE PULLED A GUN ON WERE ALREADY ON THE RAILROAD WITH HER OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL. THEY WERE PEOPLE WHO WERE TRYING TO ESCAPE, AND WHO KNEW ONCE THEY SET FOOT OFF THE PLANTATION THAT THERE WAS NO GOING BACK. THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO LEAVE THE PLANTATION WITH HER, BUT IF THEY DID, IT WAS “ESCAPE OR DIE TRYING.”

HOWEVER, IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR THEM TO TRY AND TURN BACK ANYWAY. TRYING TO ESCAPE WAS DANGEROUS AND MISERABLE, AND STOCKHOLM SYNDROME IS A THING. MANY OF THEM GOT COLD FEET WITH THE PROSPECT OF THE UNKNOWN STRUGGLE OF A FREE PERSON IN THE NORTH, WHICH FOR ALL THEY KNEW WOULD BE WORSE THAN THE FAMILIAR STRUGGLE OF A SLAVE IN THE SOUTH. MANY OF THE OTHERS FIGURED THEY’D BE CAUGHT AND RETURNED ANYWAY AND THAT THEIR PUNISHMENT WOULD BE LESS SEVERE IF THEY TURNED THEMSELVES IN AND BLEW THE WHISTLE ON TUBMAN AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. EVEN IF THIS WASN’T THEIR PLAN, ANYONE WHO’D SEEN HOW THE RAILROAD OPERATES WHO RETURNED TO THE PLANTATION WOULD BE TORTURED INTO GIVING UP THAT INFORMATION. 

ANYONE WHO WENT BACK TO THEIR PLANTATION PUT THE REST OF THE RUNAWAYS, PRESENT AND FUTURE, IN DANGER, AND TUBMAN COULDN’T ALLOW THEM TO BLOW HER COVER AND GET ALL THE PEOPLE SHE WAS TRYING TO PROTECT CAPTURED OR KILLED. SO YES, WHEN SOMEONE ATTEMPTED TO TAKE SENSITIVE INFORMATION ABOUT THE METHODS OF THE RESISTANCE BACK INTO ENEMY TERRITORY, SHE’D PULL A GUN ON THEM AND GIVE THEM THE CHOICE BETWEEN GETTING TO “LIVE NORTH FREE, OR DIE HERE.”

BUT I WANT YOU TO STOP THINKING ABOUT HARRIET AS A CIVILIAN FOR A MOMENT. SHE WAS A SOLDIER, A SPY, AND AN INSURGENT REVOLUTIONARY IN A WAR THAT STARTED CENTURIES BEFORE THE SOUTHERN STATES SECEDED. THE RUNAWAYS IN HER CARE CARRIED INFORMATION THAT WOULD ALLOW THE ENEMY TO WIN THE WAR, AND I’M CURIOUS AS TO WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE HER DO. 

SHOULD SHE ALLOW PEOPLE WHO KNEW ALL THE RESISTANCE’S TRICKS AND SECRETS TO ALLY THEMSELVES WITH THE ENEMY BECAUSE THEY’D LOST FAITH THE WAR COULD BE WON? SHOULD SHE HAVE SENT THEM HOME WITH A BAG LUNCH FOR THE ROAD AS LONG AS THEY PINKY-PROMISED THAT THEY WOULDN’T TELL? 

BECAUSE REALLY YOU ONLY HAVE TWO OPTIONS: WOULD YOU RATHER “HARRIET TUBMAN OCCASIONALLY PULLED A GUN ON PEOPLE ATTEMPTING TO BETRAY HER AND THE PEOPLE UNDER HER PROTECTION TO PEOPLE WHO WOULD ENSLAVE AND MURDER THEM WITHOUT LOSING A WINK’S SLEEP,” OR “THE SLAVE STATES LEARNED THE SECRETS OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, RECAPTURED THE RUNAWAY SLAVES, AND KILLED HARRIET TUBMAN SO SHE COULDN’T LEAD ANYONE ELSE TO FREEDOM?” 

I KNOW THERE’S PROBABLY A MIDDLE GROUND, BUT I’M TELLING YOU AS A HISTORIAN THAT THE LATTER IS THE MOST LIKELY SCENARIO, AND WHEN YOU’VE LIVED THE HORRORS HARRIET TUBMAN HAS LIVED, YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO TAKE THE CHANCE THAT YOU MIGHT GET LUCKY AND THINGS WON’T GO WRONG. 

I can’t believe in 2016 that people are trying to paint fucking Harriet Tubman as a bad/problematic person.  Jesus christ

my boss tried to call her a “thief” in logic that at the time stealing slaves was stealing property. “would we want a thief on our currency?”

Uh…if Harriet Tubman is a thief, what the fuck does that make the people who actually…kidnapped completely independent individuals and forced them into slavery?

runwithskizzers:

viktor-risjak:

manicpixiedreamdragon:

banal-adventures:

necro-romantic:

macklesufficient:

macklesufficient:

macklesufficient:

but did victor frankenstein actually have a phd

no one’s answered my question

THIS MOTHERFUCKER WAS AN UNDERGRAD

IMAGINE HEARING ABOUT THE DUDEBRO LIVING NEXT TO U IN THE DORMS “yah dave dropped out cuz he built a fucking person”

victor frankenstein was a little bITCH and he had no degree at all, he was at college for like, a year and then he was like “lol these bitches ain’t got nothing on me” and he just got an apartment and stopped going to school so he could build a person. i don’t think he even formally dropped out, he just kind of disappeared and nobody even questioned it because that’s what you expect when some cocky asshole comes to class like “i know more than everyone in this school and one day i’m going to prove it by ending dEATH ITSELF” 

fucking bullshit victor, come home and eat some goddamn soup you wussass teenager 

fucking trashass motherfucker 19 year old sin machine

go get ur liver pecked by birds u mess of a human being

i am never going to let the world forget that victor frankenstein spent 90% of the novel moping instead of doing literally anything else. actual quote from emo kid victor frankenstein “my only solace was silence - deep, dark, deathlike silence” like HOW EXTRA

You’d almost think Mary Shelly was taking inspiration from someone she knew….

Leave Lord Byron alone

omg this made me laugh so hard i teared up 

(via lathori)

friendlytroll:

khaleesi:

In honor of Lord Byron’s birthday I would like to remind you all of the time that Shelley and Keats, having not heard from him for some time, became concerned for his safety and it was determined that Shelley would go looking for him. Keats received a letter some time later that Shelley had found him in Venice, where he’d been having so much sex that he’d nearly died from malnourishment and dehydration. Keats’ entire response amounted to essentially, “You should probably have let him.”

“I found him, he’s in a gutter.” “Well go put him back”

(via yea-lets-do-this-shit)

princeoftherogues:

dork-bending:

THERE NEEDS TO BE A MOVIE ABOUT THE NIGHT WITCHES DAMNIT.

BADASS LADIES BOMBING THE SHIT OUTA NAZI’S. WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE??

OKAY WE”RE GONNA DO HISTORY KIDs, GET READY FOR THE MOST FACE-MELTINGLY AWESOME WAR STORY YOU’VE EVER HEARD about Irina Sebrova and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, or Night Witches as the Nazi’s called them because they hated them so much.  The Night Witches were a group of Russian Aviatrixes during WW2, 

THESE ARE THEM, AND 

THIS IS THEIR BADASS LEADER IRINA SEBROVA.

now Russia had absolute shit equipment during WW2, and since the Night Witches were all women they were given the shittest of the shit equipment, and by shit, I mean World War One era biplanes that would hardly fly. 

Yeah, ^THIS^ is what they had to fly, their job was to fly stealth missions. STEALTH. MISSIONS.  In a super loud bi-plane that was originally meant to be fucking crop-duster.  Now, in this plane, the navigator sat in front and the pilot sat in back (fairly common for bi-planes).  Now, since these planes were so deafeningly loud and they were supposed to be flying stealthy night missions, the Night Witches solved that problem, BY TURNING OFF THE GODDAMN PLANE AND GLIDING ON AIR CURRENTS OVER THEIR BOMBING SITE.  That is hardcore as fuck.  Now, in addition to basically being flying death-traps, these planes had a slight problem, and by slight problem, I mean sometimes the bombs wouldn’t release.  Now how do you solve that problem? How can you complete your mission if the bombs don’t drop?  Well, if you’re a Night Witch you do what the navigators would do, AND CLIMB ONTO THE FUCKING WING AND DETACH THE BOMB BY HAND!  You thought turning off the plane was badass? The plane was off while they were climbing onto the wing of a plane made of cloth and wood! Now to make things more badass, the Night Witches weren’t given supplies that were deemed ‘extraneous’ like, oh, a goddamn PARACHUTE.  Seriously, no parachutes, and Irina Sebrova survived being shot down, TWICE, each time having to dodge German patrols while surviving the Russian winter.  Now, for an American bomber in World War 2, if he survived 25 missions he was given an honorable discharge and it was considered he had done his duty to the Allies.  Want to know how many missions Irina Sebrova flew?  It’s more than 25.   Irina Sebrova, Wing Commander of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew 92, that’s almost four tours of duty for an American, and those were just day missions!! Guess how many night missions Sebrova flew?  ONE THOUSAND EIGHT.  That’s right, she flew 1,008 night missions and 92 day missions, if she was American this would have meant she completed forty-four tours of duty.  The Night Witches weren’t just badasses, they were heroes with such incredible amounts of courage that they carried out the most insane acts of braveryto protect their homeland and their people.

SOURCE

Some more pics of these amazing women.

(Source: dorkbending, via muteelfmoonmoon)