Missy Sullivan

When Jackie Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, he not only broke the color barrier in major league baseball. He was signaling to the nation—on one of its biggest stages—that Black Americans would no longer accept second-class status. ...read more

At the turn of the 20th century, African Americans founded and developed the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Built on what had formerly been Indian Territory, the community grew and flourished as a Black economic and cultural mecca—until May 31, 1921.  That's when a white ...read more

The need for social distancing may have forced museums and historic sites around the world to close their doors for now, but many have made their spaces, exhibits and collections available to anyone with a digital device and a decent web connection. Some offer 360-degree tours, ...read more

Champion freestyle motocross athlete Vicki Golden shattered a 12-year-old record Sunday night, smashing her motorcycle through 13 wooden walls of fire—the most ever in history. Her fiery, high-stakes motorcycle stunt was the featured event in an ambitious night of daredevilry ...read more

It takes a special kind of crazy to willingly—and repeatedly—crash a motorcycle through burning boards. Flaming debris can settle in a rider's lap. Impact at even moderate speeds can cause concussion. And with all that smoke, it can be as good as driving blind. That is—if you ...read more

If 1952 marked the year that UFO fever spread across Cold War America, events in late July of that year spiked that mania to critical levels. That's when the grandfather of all "saucer" sightings took place in the skies above the nation's capital, causing a coast-to-coast ...read more

It’s not often that a little-known chapter from one of the most important books of the 20th century emerges into the public sphere. Especially one in which a prominent civil-rights figure delivers a stern rebuke to his race. In July 2018, the Schomburg Center for Research in ...read more

The first time Joshua Kaufman met Daniel Gillespie was April 29, 1945, when American liberators marched into the notorious Dachau concentration camp 12 miles outside Munich, Germany and smashed in the prison doors. Gillespie, a gunner with the 42nd Rainbow Division, was deeply ...read more

At the end of the day, Travis Pastrana made leaping over 52 cars, 16 buses and the notorious fountain at Caesars Palace on two wheels look easy. Even in 100-plus-degree weather. Even using a heavy, stiff, flat-track bike unlike anything the action-sports stunt icon is used to ...read more

How does a mass-produced die-cast toy car that originally sold for less than a dollar—and fits in a small child’s hand—become a valued collectible trading for hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars? It comes down to rarity. Such is the case with Hot Wheels cars, produced by ...read more

Three jumps. One night. Two legends. Travis Pastrana has more than earned his reputation as a bonafide action-sport icon. One of the most decorated freestyle athletes in X Games history, he’s the motocross champion who simultaneously dropped millions of jaws in 2006 with the ...read more

It’s often said that winners dictate history. Not so for the medieval holy wars called the Crusades. Muslim forces ultimately expelled the European Christians who invaded the eastern Mediterranean repeatedly in the 12th and 13th centuries—and thwarted their effort to regain ...read more