Brynn Holland

WATCH: 11 Underappreciated World-Changing Women 1. Sybil Ludington: The Female Paul Revere On the night of April 26, 1777, 16-year-old Sybil Ludington rode nearly 40 miles to warn some 400 militiamen that the British troops were coming. Much like the ride of Paul Revere, ...read more

Since 1972, the Iowa Caucus has been the first—and some argue most important—electoral test on the road to each party’s presidential nomination. But how did it get that way?  It all started with the 1968 Democratic Convention. The lead up to the convention had been tumultuous. ...read more

The White Helmets comprise an unarmed, neutral organization of more than 3,000 volunteer rescue workers operating in opposition-held areas of Syria. When airstrikes rain down on civilian targets in the war-torn nation, the men and women of the White Helmets carry out ...read more

History and lore of the American frontier have long been dominated by an iconic figure: the grizzled, gunslinging man, going it alone, leaving behind his home and family to brave the rugged, undiscovered wilderness. But as scholars of the American West continue to explore the ...read more

Netflix’s hit TV series The Crown, which goes deep inside the private world of Queen Elizabeth II and Britain’s royal family, chronicles their lives within the sweep of global events during and after World War II—from the Suez Crisis to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Below, our ...read more

How often do we get a nitty-gritty view into the daily life of a medieval knight—one based on fact and not misty mythology? The Templars, founded in 1119 as a band of poor, pious knights, have been romantically reimagined in art, literature, film and folklore for centuries. The ...read more

In the world of Zodiac Killer experts, Dave Peterson was the real deal. As a police reporter for the Vallejo Times-Herald in California when the Zodiac began to terrorize the Bay Area with his murders, letters and ciphers in the late 1960s, Peterson covered the ...read more

Today, it’s hard to imagine a Halloween not filled with doorbells, costumes, and treats. In 2016 Americans spent $8.4 billion on the holiday. But while trick-or-treating is many children’s favorite pastime, it hasn’t been a pastime for all that long. The tradition didn’t make its ...read more

It’s hard to keep up with the treatment recommendations coming out of the medical community. One day something is good for you, and the next day it’s deadly and should be avoided. Addictive drugs like heroin were given to kids to cure coughs, electric shock therapy has been a ...read more

Few medical doctors have been as lauded—and loathed—as James Marion Sims.  Credited as the “father of modern gynecology,” Sims developed pioneering tools and surgical techniques related to women’s reproductive health. In 1876, he was named president of the American Medical ...read more

An enclosed water slide with a complete loop where customers ended up with bloody noses. A wheeled ride with no brakes that shot down a concrete-and-fiberglass track. A freshwater pool with giant waves that required lifeguards to rescue over two dozen people a day. New Jersey’s ...read more

1. First woman to make a transatlantic flight In 1928 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Luis Gordon. With this feat she gained international attention, providing an opportunity for her to become a ...read more

They flew under the cover of darkness in bare-bones plywood biplanes. They braved bullets and frostbite in the air, while battling skepticism and sexual harassment on the ground. They were feared and hated so much by the Nazis that any German airman who downed one was ...read more

Their marriages were long in coming—and tragically shortened by illness. But for two same-sex couples, their unions became crucial legal litmus tests that would change the course of LGBTQ rights in America.  It was the union of Edith (“Edie”) Windsor and Thea Spyer, together for ...read more

It was an unlikely partnership. But between New York’s LGBT community in the 1960s being forced to live on the outskirts of society and the Mafia’s disregard for the law, the two made a profitable, if uneasy, match. As the gay community blossomed in New York City in the 1960s, ...read more

Barbara Poma originally opened Pulse in 2004 to honor her brother, John, whom she lost to HIV/AIDS in 1991. She wanted to create a space that would embody the loving and accepting spirit her brother had found in underground gay nightclubs. At 2:02 a.m. on June 12, 2016 the lives ...read more

The effect a Tony Award has on a Broadway production is similar to what an Oscar can do for a Hollywood film. It’s the industry’s highest honor, and can make or break a play when it is given—or not. Although it may seem like a mainstay now, the Antoinette Perry Award for ...read more

Everything changed at 1:20 a.m. on June 28, 1969, when the New York city police barged into the Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall was operating without a liquor license at 51-53 Christopher Street in Manhattan. The N.Y. State Liquor Authority did not give out licenses to ...read more

MTV made waves when Emma Watson was awarded a non-gender specific “Best Actor” award for her performance in “Beauty and the Beast.” But while this may be a first for the MTV Movie & TV Awards, it’s not a first for the entertainment industry. For the top honors in film and ...read more

Many “420” revelers don’t know the origins of the word, but have vague recollections of once-heard tales about its origins. Some believe it’s the number of active chemicals in marijuana, others that it’s based on teatime in Holland. Some reference the birthday of Adolf Hitler ...read more

On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany and the Central Powers. The United States would cast its lot with the Allies four days later. What caused President Wilson to abandon his policy of neutrality? Germany’s policy of unchecked submarine ...read more

Criado-Perez’s campaign kicked off last year with an open letter to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. She called on Khan to erect a statue of a woman in Parliament Square by February 2018, to honor the 100th anniversary of legislation granting limited suffrage to British women. ...read more

Dr. James Barry was actually born Margaret Ann Bulky around 1789 in County Cork, Ireland, at a time when women were barred from most formal education, and were certainly not allowed to practice medicine. She was the second child of Jeremiah (a grocer) and Mary-Ann Bulky. While ...read more

1. Sergeant Stubby—The Most Decorated Dog of World War I On a fateful day in 1917, a stray pit bull mix wandered onto the Yale University campus while members of the 102nd Infantry Regiment were training. This lost pup fit right in, participating in drills and even learning to ...read more

Though the long-running war between Iran and Iraq had ended in a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in August 1988, by mid-1990 the two states had yet to begin negotiating a permanent peace treaty. When their foreign ministers met in Geneva that July, prospects for peace seemed ...read more

It’s called “panda diplomacy” and it’s thought to have started as early as the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century when Empress Wu Zeitan sent a pair of bears (believed to be pandas) to Japan. This Chinese policy of sending pandas as diplomat gifts was revived in 1941, on the eve of ...read more

Since the sinking of the Titanic on the fateful night of April 14, 1912 (in which more than 1,500 people lost their lives), it’s estimated that fewer than 200 people have visited its final resting place. The last crewed mission was in 2005, while a remote-operated vehicle ...read more

March 14 marks Pi Day, an annual celebration of the mathematical sign pi. Founded in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw, March 14 was selected because the numerical date (3.14) represents the first three digits of pi, and it also happens to be Albert Einstein’s birthday—the perfect ...read more

1. 1934: The Children’s Hour At the time of the Broadway premiere of “The Children’s Hour,” making any reference to homosexuality on stage was illegal in New York. The three-act drama was set in an all-girls boarding school where a disgruntled, runaway student makes a shocking ...read more

Gisella Perl showed academic promise at a young age. At the age of 16 she was the only woman—and the only Jewish person—to graduate from her secondary school. She had great academic aspirations, and approached her father requesting to go to medical school. Her father was ...read more

“What are you doing in bed with this woman?,” Sheriff R Garnett Brooks asked as he shone his flashlight on a couple in bed. It was 2 a.m. on July 11, 1958, and the couple in question, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter, had been married for five weeks. “I’m his wife,” Mildred ...read more

1. Valais: France/Switzerland, 1428–1447 Often considered to be the first in Europe, the Valais trials began in the French-speaking southern region of Valais and spread to German-speaking Wallis. The trials claimed at least 367 victims (the actual toll may be higher), with just ...read more

Barbara “Barby” Canright joined California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1939. As the first female “human computer,” her job was to calculate anything from how many rockets were needed to make a plane airborne to what kind of rocket propellants were needed to propel a ...read more

1. Victoria Woodhull: 1872 Women’s rights leader Victoria Woodhull, became the first female candidate for president nearly 50 years before women gained the right to vote. A jack-of-all-trades, the Ohio native ran in 1872 as the Equal Rights Party candidate against incumbent ...read more

Ruth Handler and her husband Elliot, founded the toy company Mattel, Inc in 1945. Fourteen years later, Ruth would introduce Barbie Millicent Roberts, better known as “Barbie” to the world. Inspired by watching her daughter play with make-believe paper dolls of ...read more

1. What does Hanukkah celebrate? Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem during the second century B.C., following the triumph of a small group of Jewish rebels, known as the Maccabees, against their oppressors the Greek-Syrians, who had defiled ...read more