In the Spring of 1906, Virginia Hall was born in the heart of Baltimore to a wealthy family. As a child, she attended an all-girls preparatory academy, Roland Park Country School. Her mother, Barbara, had grown up destitute and married into money. Facing hardships and poverty as a child, Barbara was determined for her daughter to marry into fortune, too. But Virginia was far from the dainty young woman her mother had so wished for and had her ... Read the Post...
Cultural Cuisine: New Orleans Beignets
Beignets first graced New Orleans tables a few hundred years ago when they were brought over by French colonists. While the French had popularized them and spread them across modern-day Louisiana, Canada and everything in between, their roots actually go much farther back. The very first beignets, or, at the time, 'scriblita' were actually made in ancient Rome during 5th century BC. These 'scriblita' were a gooey, moist dough dipped into ... Read the Post...
The Black Sparrow of Death – Eugene Jacques Bullard
On October 9, 1895, Eugene Bullard was born to a former Haitian slave, William, and a Muskogee Creek woman, Josephine, in Columbus, Georgia. While Eugene's father escaped Haitian shackles and sought refuge in the US with the Creek tribes, they weren't out of the woods just yet. Slavery had been abolished in the South only 30 years prior and still cast a long, dark shadow over the country. Eugene was no stranger to discrimination, hardship, and ... Read the Post...
Hell Hath No Fury Like Mariya Oktyabrskaya
On an ordinary day in August 1905, Mariya Vasilyevna was born into a destitute Crimean family of twelve. For her fate, being born into poverty simply was not enough. She was born a Crimean peasant - synonymous with a medieval serf, her life was hard from the getgo. Her childhood years were spent in little more than broom closets with unpromised meals and little hope for the future. With ten children to feed, her parents were often starving. The ... Read the Post...
