Imported from Europe, the custom of leaving gratuities began spreading in the U.S. post-Civil War. It was loathed as a master-serf custom that degraded America's democratic, anti-aristocratic ethic. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
History History
History
Monday
Historian Mary Beard says real gladiator competitions were probably not as brutal as the film Gladiator (starring Russell Crowe) would have us believe. Still, she says, "I loved Gladiator and I thought its depiction of gladiatorial combat, although it was an aggrandizing picture, was cleverly and expertly done." Universal/Getty Images hide caption
From Gladiator Duels To Caesar's Last Words: The Myths Of Ancient Rome
Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat touched off the Montgomery bus boycott and the beginning of the civil rights movement, is fingerprinted by police Lt. D.H. Lackey in Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 22, 1956, when she was among several others charged with violating segregation laws. Gene Herrick/AP hide caption
In Montgomery, Rosa Parks' Story Offers A History Lesson For Police
Sunday
Rosa Parks joins in a march at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 10, 1984, protesting that country's racial policies. She's famous for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in 1955, sparking the Montgomery boycotts â but her activism spanned her entire life. AP hide caption
No Meekness Here: Meet Rosa Parks, 'Lifelong Freedom Fighter'
Saturday
"Osceola" stands in front of a crowd at the FSU homecoming game. Eileen Soler/Seminole Tribune hide caption
Officials remove the linen-wrapped mummy of King Tutankhamen from his stone sarcophagus in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in Luxor in 2007. New radar scans show that other rooms may be hidden behind the tomb's walls. AFP/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Friday
Mattel's Michelle Chidoni says there wasn't any trepidation over casting a boy in a recent Barbie ad. "Barbie is a brand that's all about imagination and storytelling, whether you're a boy or a girl," she says. Moschino via YouTube hide caption
From Dream Bride To Doll For Boys: The Evolution Of The Barbie Ad
This undated photo shows Rosa Parks riding on the Montgomery Area Transit System bus. Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus on Dec. 1, 1955, and ignited the boycott that led to the end of legal segregation in public transportation. AP hide caption
60 Years Later, What Can Activists Learn From The Montgomery Bus Boycott?
Thursday
The Mayflower, the ship in which the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic to the New World in 1620. Three Lions/Getty Images hide caption
Reconsidering The Pilgrims, Piety And America's Founding Principles
Wednesday
An artist's depiction of the meeting of Hernan Cortes and La Malinche with the Aztec emperor Montezuma II. Unknown Tlaxcalan artists via Wikimedia Commons hide caption
The excavation at Ahihud in the Galilee region of Israel where archaeologists found fava beans dating back 10,000 years. Yaron Bibas/Courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority hide caption
Patriotic Turkey: Detail from a vintage Thanksgiving greeting card. NPR hide caption
Tuesday
Thanksgiving maskers, circa 1910-1915. Bain News Service/Library of Congress hide caption
Monday
Thanksgiving dinner. So much room for hope. So much room for disappointment. Eric Pancer/Flickr Creative Commons hide caption
Friday
One of the main attractions in "The Edible Monument" exhibition at the Getty Center in Los Angeles is a nine-foot long sugar palace showing the Greek sorceress Circe meeting Odysseus' men. Abbie Fentress Swanson for NPR hide caption