It’s hard for art students to find nude models in India these days. Society used to be less conservative.
The Waco Suspension Bridge, inaugurated in 1870, spans the Brazos River. It once charged a toll per head of cattle.
Garrett Morgan, son of a freed slave, invented the gas mask. Because racism was so high at the time, he had to disguise himself as a Native American when demonstrating it. Called Morgan’s safety hood, the mask became well-known after Morgan used it to personally save many lives following a tunnel explosion in 1916.
The inventor of the shopping mall, Victor Gruen, was a Viennese Jew who narrowly escaped the Nazis in 1938. How? A brave friend impersonated a Nazi storm trooper and took Gruen and his wife to the airport.
This article appears in February 24 • 2012.