Category: History Articles

Valentina Tereshkova, born in 1937, was the first woman
in space. In 1963, she spent 3 days in space and orbited the earth 48 times.

Valentina was the youngest of three children. Her father was
a tractor driver. He fought with the Soviet Army in World War II and was killed
before she was three years old. Her mother struggled to raise three children
alone. As a child she had to help her mother with farm chores and she didn’t
attend school until she was ten years old. Eventually they left the farm and
went to live in the city, where her mother worked in a cotton mill. At 17 she
started working in factories. First she worked in a tire factory, and then she
joined her mother and sister in the cotton mill. She finished her schooling by
correspondence course, and graduated from the Light Industry Technical School.
This was by no means the end of her education, though.

Valentina was a great believer in the communist system and
joined the young communists leagues at the factory. She later became a full
member of the communist party. She also joined an amateur parachuting club and
became an expert parachutist.

Valentina was at work with her mother and sister when Yuri
Gagarin, the first ever astronaut, went into space. Her mother commented that
next time it should be a woman that went. Valentina was inspired.

Every person in the Soviet Union was entitled to apply to the
space program. Valentina applied and was accepted. Her parachuting experience
was one of the reasons she got in, along with three other women. The Soviets
wanted to send a woman to space, just once, to see if they could endure the
hardships as well as men. In order to become a cosmonaut (a Soviet astronaut)
she had to join the Air Force as an Officer.

She began her training in 1961 and it took 18 months. It
wasn’t easy. She had to spend hours studying technical manuals, rocket science
and spaceship design. She also underwent strenuous physical training.

On June 16, 1963, as a Junior Lieutenant and chief pilot of
the Vostok VI, she became the first ever woman to go into space. She orbited
Earth 48 times, and parachuted out of the spacecraft following its reentry into
Earth’s atmosphere. She had proven that women could withstand the physical and
emotional stresses of space flight as well as any man.

She was awarded a medal at the Kremlin three days later and
proclaimed as a Hero of the Soviet Union. She never returned to space, but
worked in the Space Program and married another Cosmonaut in 1963. One year
later their daughter, Elena, was born. She was the first child to be born to
parents who had both been to space. Doctors were a little worried that she would
not be normal, but Elena, now a doctor, proved them wrong.

She worked for the Communist party and headed the Soviet
Union’s International
Cultural and Friendship Union from 1987 to 1991.

She also worked tirelessly for the Soviet feminist movement.
She wanted Soviet women to be treated the same as men. Even so, she is famous
for the fact that she said and believed that a woman’s most important job is
to be caring and a mother. Here was a woman who had done perhaps the most
difficult job on Earth, and off it, and still thought being a mother was more
important!

However, being the mother of five children, I rapidly saw that they needed
answers. Many of the questions are beyond the scope of my, or any decent
person’s capabilities to answer. There are many more, however, that I can
answer. Some of the questions I have been asked are things like, why do we fly
the flags at half-mast, can awards for bravery be given posthumously and how is
the world reacting to this?

Here, I am trying to answer some of the simple questions, in the hopes that
they will be sufficient to calm these inquisitive minds, and turn their thoughts
to brighter things.

As a mother I would like to stick my head in the sand, and as an educator I
would like to answer every question; I can do neither of these things. As a
member of the human race I want to protect these children from hatred, and
ensure that none who witnessed this terrible event have their minds twisted by
the searing hatred that caused it. That I can, at least, try to do.

I urge any parent or adult who finds any of the material here disturbing to
children, to notify me immediately, so that the problem can be rectified.

May God bless all those who have suffered as a result of this evil and
barbaric act, and protect our children from any further acts of this nature.

Standing
to the north, and slightly below the pyramids at Giza is the Sphinx. It
is made of limestone. The body and head were cut from a single limestone
rock, present at the site. The paws were added on after. With the head
of a human and a lion’s body, it has guarded the site of the pyramids
for almost 4,500 years.

Named the Sphinx, after a creature in Greek mythology that had a woman’s head
and lion’s body, it is supposed to be both intelligent and strong. The Egyptians
call him Abu El Hol.

The main section of the body is 171 feet long; the total length including the
paws, which stick out in the front, is 242 feet, with it reaching a height of 66
feet at the top of the head.

Although not all historians agree, the majority believes that King Khafra,
the son of King Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid, probably built the Sphinx.
King Khafra built the second pyramid at Giza, smaller than his father’s but
bigger than the third pyramid. The Sphinx lies beside the valley temple of
Khafra’s pyramid. The Ancient Egyptians thought that the Sphinx was a powerful
God.

The face of the Sphinx has been badly damaged over the centuries, but it is
still recognizable as a human face. Legend would have us believe that either the
French used the Sphinx for target practice, with canons, during the Napoleonic
wars, or perhaps the British troops during World War 1. The story goes that the
nose of the Sphinx was shot off during this target practice. This legend is not
true. We know from photographs that the nose was missing long before WWI. There
are also drawings made of the Sphinx, before the Napoleonic wars, which clearly
show the Sphinx without a nose. The best theory that anyone can come up with is
that it was badly damaged by the wind and sand, and just disintegrated.

The Sphinx is wearing the classic headdress of a Pharaoh and has the beard of
a god. The beard fell off, and was removed from the site. Part of it can be seen
in the British Museum in London. Most historians believe that it was meant
to have the face of King Khafra.

The Ancient Egyptians worshipped the Sphinx and offered sacrifices to it.
They also left stones inscribed with messages, some of these stones have been
found, scattered around the Sphinx.

The Sphinx is lying down in the sand, with his paws outstretched. Between the
paws there is a large slab of red granite. Inscribed on it was the story of a
dream. Soon after the stone was uncovered and the message deciphered, it began
to crumble from exposure to the air. The writing can no longer be read.

The Dream

King Thutmose IV should never have been a King of Egypt, but he was. The
story is that before he was King he used to go hunting in the desert, at that
time he was a Prince, but not in a very good position to get the throne. One day
he fell asleep while hunting, and had a dream.

In the dream the Sphinx appeared and told Thutmose that although he was not
meant to be Pharaoh, he had been very dutiful to the Gods and deserved a reward.
The Sphinx promised to make Thutmose king if he did one thing for the Sphinx, in
return.

Prince Thutmose immediately asked what it was that the Sphinx required. The
Sphinx replied that his statue was buried in the sand, and that nobody had done
anything about it. It is reported that at that time, only the head of the Sphinx
was showing above the surrounding desert. Prince Thutmose set about the task of
clearing away the sand, and eventually became King of all Egypt.

Tall tale or True Story?

Many Egyptians believe that the story is true, and that the Sphinx really did
talk to Prince Thutmose in a dream. However, this isn’t very likely. It is far
more likely that the Prince made up the story so that the people of Egypt would
accept him as their King.

The Future

In recent times attempts have been made to stop the Sphinx from eroding even
more. The blowing sands in the desert are gradually eating away at it. The
closeness of Cairo, with all its traffic and pollution is also causing damage to
the Sphinx. Different methods of preservation have been tried, but so far, none
have been successful. Some of the methods have caused even more damage to the
fragile structure.

If you look closely at the photograph you can see some of the damage. The red
arrows show attempts to repair it. The neck has had mortar added. Bricks have
been added to the outside of the body, using mortar. It has since been
discovered that the mortar is eating away at the limestone even more quickly
than the air pollution.

The Sphinx has stood, as Guardian to the Pyramids, for 4,500 years, but it is
unlikely that it will be there in another 4,500 years, unless someone can come
up with a good way of preserving it.

It’s OK to want to play Ostrich sometimes. Sometimes
things happen that are just too painful to think about. Even grownups have a
hard time with it. This is a picture of a little friend of mine, called Kevin.

He is two years old in this picture. It looks just like
any picture of a two year old, trying to get a drink. But this isn’t just any
picture. Six years ago, a terrible thing happened. Somebody blew up a building
in the United States. People were really upset; all everyone talked about was
what had happened and how terrible it was. You couldn’t find anything else on
the television, or in the newspapers. Then someone saw this picture of Kevin,
and it made them smile. They clicked away with that camera. Even Kevin’s Mom
doesn’t really know what happened.

The next thing she knew she was receiving letters from
all over the world, people writing to thank her for the smiles. Someone had sent
the picture to the newspaper and pretty soon it was finding it’s way all around
the world. The whole world wanted to play ostrich, just for a day.

You might think that Kevin is a special little boy now.
Well he isn’t. He is the same as any other 8 year old. He plays and fights with
his brothers, sometimes he gets in trouble at school, he likes to collect
Pokemon cards, and he just likes to be a boy. The terrible thing didn’t change
him, and neither did being famous for a day. Just for one day Kevin was special
and made the world smile.

Who do you know who is special, today, and can make you
smile?

Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in the village of Domremy in
North Eastern France. Her parents were peasants, and Joan never attended school.
Like all children of the working classes in those days, she helped with chores
from an early age. She was deeply religious and spent hours praying in the
church.

From a young age she claimed to hear the voices of St Michael
(the Archangel) and two saints, St. Catherine and St. Margaret.

When Joan was born, England and France had been at war for
about 100 years. The details of the war are extremely confusing, but the
relevant part is that they were, at that time, fighting over who should be King
of France.

The English had won lands in North Western France. Henry V
was King of England and Charles VI was King of France. All French Kings were
crowned in Reims, a city in the Northern part of France controlled by the
English. After the English won the land they signed a treaty with France. The
agreement was that Charles could remain King of France, but that when he died,
Henry would rule. Unfortunately Charles and Henry both died within a very short
time of each other. Charles had a son, (also named Charles, later known as
Charles VII). Henry also had a son (later known as Henry VI) whom the English
claimed should be King of France due to the agreement between the two countries.
When his father died, Charles, at that time known as the Dauphin, quickly
claimed the throne for himself. The French people refused to accept that he was
King until he had been crowned in Reims. The English were determined that would
never happen, and started trying to take even more French land. The Duke of
Burgundy, a French Duke, was helping the English. He wanted to eventually take
the crown for himself, or at least gain more land. With no King in charge, the
French were losing and it looked fairly certain that they would eventually
control all of France.

Into this stepped Joan. The voices, which until then had
given her only general guidance, began telling her she must save France from the
English. She was instructed to go to the leader of the French Army, telling him
she could lead France to victory and have Charles crowned. She was seventeen
years old at the time.

With the help of a local baron, she found her way to Charles.
She managed to persuade him that she truly heard voices, and that God would help
her get him crowned. Although it is unclear why Charles believed her, legend has
it she told him things that only he could have known. Charles was convinced that
Joan and the voices were genuine, and he agreed to give her a small army. He
also gave her a suit of white armor and a sword.

The English had recently captured Orleans, a city about 80
miles from Paris. This is where Joan started her mission. She led her small army
against the English, and was wounded. Her men, seeing her bravery and
determination to fight on, were inspired. They retook the city of Orleans for
France. Joan became known as the maid of Orleans. The French rallied behind Joan
and supported her. With their help she won several more battles. The English
were losing ground quickly, and Reims once again belonged to the French.

Charles could now be crowned King of France. Joan and her
Army escorted him to the cathedral in Reims, where he was crowned, in July 1429.
Once he was crowned Charles decided that he ought to negotiate with the English
and the Duke of Burgundy. Joan and her voices, however, had different ideas. She
was determined to fight on and rid France of the English forever.

Joan continued to fight but began to lose battles. She was
captured by the troops of the Duke of Burgundy in 1430, at the Battle of
Compeigne. The Duke sold her to the English. The English could not admit that a
teenage girl had beaten them in battle. They needed to prove that she had used
trickery, sorcery and witchcraft to do it. She was imprisoned in a dungeon and
tortured. The English wanted her to admit that she had lied about the voices.
They also wanted her to agree to remove the men’s clothing, which they said
was against the Churches ruling. Joan refused and remained in prison.

Charles no longer had any interest in Joan, she had given him
what he wanted, the French crown. Now she was just a nuisance and an obstacle to
him negotiating with the English. He made no attempt to rescue her or buy her
back from the English. Joan remained in prison, growing weaker and more tired
daily.

She finally agreed to remove the soldiers clothing and signed
a statement that she had been wrong. In return she was supposed to be allowed to
visit the church. The English had lied. Remember that she could neither read nor
write. She probably had no idea what it was that she was admitting to. She again
insisted that the voices had been real, and put her soldiers clothing back on.
They now had the proof they needed to have her tried and convicted of heresy and
witchcraft. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Because she was
found guilty of being a witch, she was to be executed by fire. She was 19 years
old.

On May 30, 1431 she was burned at the stake. Charles did
nothing to save her, and neither did the French people, who only shortly before
had claimed she was a heroine. After her death Charles decided that it wasn’t
a good idea for people to believe she had been a witch or heretic. That would
mean that he had been wrongfully crowned. He set about having her name cleared.

Thirty years after her death the Pope claimed she had been
wrongly accused and that she was not guilty of any crime against the Church or
God. She was eventually canonized in 1920, becoming St Joan. The church never
stated whether or not her visions and the voices she heard were real. She was
made a Saint because she was convinced that God had ordered her to do what she
did, and she followed those orders. Her absolute faith in God and obedience of
what she believed were His instructions are what made her a saint.

Papyrus reeds played a very important part in the life
of the Ancient Egyptians. This plant, found along the banks of the Nile River
grew easily in the fertile soil, and often reached a height of as much as ten
feet.

It had many uses, the most well-known being in the
production of a form of paper known as papyrus. It was also used for making
rafts, boxes, sandals, baskets and everyday household items.

Once the Ancient Egyptians had developed
a form of writing, they needed something to write on. They wrote on tablets
of clay and walls, but neither of these was convenient for storage, nor for
sending messages.

No-one knows how they came up with the idea for papyrus
paper, but they did. Making the paper took time but wasn’t difficult.

First, they gathered the reeds from along the banks of
the Nile. The stems were needed to make the paper. The thick outer layer of the
stem was removed. Next, they cut long thin strips from the stem. The strips were
full of sugar, and in order to remove some of the sugar they soaked them in
water for about three days.

The strips were then pounded to remove more sugar and
laid side-by-side. Each strip slightly overlapped the one next to it. The
remaining sugar acted like a glue, and stuck the strips together.

A second set of strips was laid on top of the first. This
layer was perpendicular to the first layer. They were then pounded again, to
stick them together.

All that remained was to dry them out. Although this
sounds like the easiest part, it was probably the most difficult. The water
needed to be removed, but the layers needed to be held together. They were
probably laid between sheets of cotton, or similar absorbent material. The
entire thing was then placed under a heavy weight.

Once the sheets were dried, they were polished with a
stone. Then they were ready for use.

Stonehenge is probably the world’s best-known megalithic site. A megalith is a standing stone monument. Situated on Salisbury Plain in Southern England, it has been associated with all sorts of astronomical and religious myths. On June 21, each year thousands of visitors collect for a festival to mark the summer solstice, or mid-summer.

It consists of a three circles of stone, within each other, surrounded by a circular ditch. The site was built in stages.

The First Stage: 2800 B.C.

The first stage was probably begun in about 2800 B.C. This is the outer, circular ditch, with a raised embankment. It measures about 330 feet across. Just inside the ditch are 56 holes, evenly placed around the circle. They are called Aubrey holes, after a 17th century historian, who discovered them. These holes probably contained wooden posts, which have long since disappeared. A pathway, leading up to and into the circle, was probably built at the same time, but may have been built later.

The Second Stage: 2000 B.C.

During this stage of construction, a double circle of about 60-80 stones was placed in the middle of the circle formed by the ditch. These stones are called “blue stones” and a few remain today. They are the smallest stones used at the site, but they still each weighed about 4 tons. They came from the Welsh mountains. Although no one knows for sure how they got there, it is thought they were transported mostly on barges, using the sea and rivers, and barely had to travel over land at all. For some reason, this circle of stones was never completed and was partly replaced with a horseshoe arrangement of larger stones. The larger stones are called sarsens and are sandstone blocks, from an area about 20 miles from the site. There were ten upright stones, arranged in five pairs, with a huge horizontal stone across each pair. These stones weigh up to 50 tons each, and were transported by land. It is estimated that each stone took 600 men to move!

The Heel Stone

At this time the heel stone was also placed. It is the considered the most important stone at the site, weighing 35 tons. It has a pointed top, and its placement has been the cause of a lot of the theories surrounding the site. During the summer solstice (midsummer day) if you stand in the center of the circle, you will see the sun rise directly over the pointed tip of the heel stone.

The Third Stage: 1800 B.C.

During the third stage the builders built an outer ring of huge sarsens, each weighing about 35 tons. There are 30 stones, and across the top of them all, forming a complete circle, there were horizontal stones.

The Theories

There have been many theories over the years as to who built the site and why. Probably the most famous one is that the Druids built it as a place of worship. The problem with this theory is that there were no Druids in England at the time it was built, and the Druids preferred places with trees for their worship.

Another theory is that it was some sort of religious site where human sacrifices were made, but this theory is the weakest of all, since no human remains have been found there. There is some evidence that ashes of cremated bodies were placed in the Aubrey holes, but much later than the original time the site was built.

Another, and the best theory, is that it was some sort of astronomical observatory. The sun rises directly over the heel stone on midsummer’s day. It is not very likely that this is a coincidence. The problem with this theory is that over the 5000 years that it has stood, mid-summer’s day has changed, and so has the position of the sun. However, people have estimated that 5000 years ago, mid-summer’s day was June 24, and that the sun would have risen over the heel stone then. Other calculations show that it could have been used to predict solar and lunar eclipses, and perhaps even as a daily calendar.

We will probably never know exactly why the site was built. One thing is certain, though. It was built for an important purpose, since no one would have gone to so much effort just for fun!

Patricia S. Cowings is another great African American woman. She was the
first woman to take astronaut training at NASA. Although she never took off,
she has helped many astronauts through her research.

Patricia Suzanne Cowings was born in New York City on December 15, 1948. Her
father owned a grocery store, and her mother earned a degree at the age of
sixty-five, becoming an assistant teacher for the New York Board of Education.

She first became interested in science at the age of eleven. She was
fascinated by astronomy. She carried on with her interest throughout high
school, and studies psychology in University. She won a scholarship to conduct
research at NASA. She left NASA for a while after that to teach, but returned in
1977.

She conducted very important research into zero gravity sickness. This is
something that affects astronauts in much the same way as motion sickness
affects people on earth. She set up a biofeedback program. Biofeedback is when
you teach your body to control things which you normally have no control over,
like reflexes, heart beat, etc.

Her program was a great success and has helped many astronauts overcome the
sickness completely. Some astronauts haven’t been able to get over it totally,
but all have been helped by the research. She also helped set up a program to
prevent muscles wasting in space. This happens because there is no gravity to
make them work hard. She made up exercises to work all the muscles that would
normally be unused in space.

She has received many awards for her work. All of this is a great achievement
for anybody, but especially a woman and African American. Patricia Cowling
believes that her success is as a result of her father telling her that her
color didn’t matter. Read what she
has to say about it.

Sidney Poitier was the first black man to win an academy
award for best actor. Throughout his film career he has taken on roles that
highlight the situation of the black man in a white world. Poitier’s interest in
the plight of the black people goes far beyond acting. He is a writer and
director as well as a humanitarian and a diplomat.

His first great acting success was in the film Cry The
Beloved Country, about Apartheid in South Africa. He later went on to play in
other films about Black Americans. The film “In the Heat of the Night” was a
classic movie about a black detective from the North. He was sent to solve a
murder in a Southern town at a time when blacks were still addressed as
“boy” in the South, and segregated. His performance made a lot of people
sympathize with the plight of black people in the South. Until then, many people
had considered that they were treated equally, or at least fairly. Another
controversial role he played was in “Guess Who is Coming To Dinner”. That
was a film about interracial marriage. Sidney Poitier was going to marry a white
girl, and he went to dinner at her parent’s house for the first time, to meet
them. Her parents were absolutely horrified at the thought of their daughter
marrying a black man. It was the first time that an interracial marriage had
been the subject of a Hollywood film, and the film had a happy ending.

All of these things may seem very ordinary today, but in those days black
people were still shunned and considered inferior. Sidney Poitier played a big
part in changing those views. He was not afraid to play in roles that would
cause controversy, or even put him in danger from extreme racists. Nearly fifty
years after his first success with Cry My Beloved Country, Sidney Poitier went
to an apartheid free South Africa, to star in a film as Nelson Mandela. The
world is slowly changing and people are beginning to realize that color,
nationality and religion have nothing to do with whether a person is good or
bad.

To learn more about Sidney Poitier: his life, his ideals
and his films, visit
this link.