History's Unsung Heroes

Learn about the sisters who single handedly stopped the British from coming on their New Jersey shore during the Revolutionary War.   Sources:  1. www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=92392 historical marker data base Rebecca and Sara Stillwell, Women Heritage Trail  2. Dolin, Eric. Rebels At Sea. 30 May 2022. Highbridge. 3. Dorwart, Jeffrey. Cape May County, New Jersey: The Making of an American Resort Community...

Learn about Nancy Harkness Love, the first female commercial pilot, founder of the Women's Flying Training Detachment and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) during World War II, from USA Today bestselling author Heather B. Moore. 

Learn about the amazing work of Phillis Wheatley, the mother of black literature in America. Sources: Sources  Carretta, Vincent. Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage. University of Georgia Press, 2011.  Wheatley, Phillis. ‘ To a Lady and her Children, on the Death of her Son and their Brother ’, 1773.  Hoose, Phillip M. We Were There Too. Phillip House, 2001.  Michals, Deborah. 2015...

Learn about one of American's most influential founding mothers, socialite and patriot, Elizabeth Willing Powel. 1. A Portrait of Elizabeth Willing Powel: 1743-1830, David Walker Maxey, (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2006), 17-19. 2. Elizabeth Willing Powel. Mount Vernon. Viewed February 3, 2025.http://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/elizabet...

Learn about the wife, mother, Quaker and Patriot Spy, Lydia Barrington Darragh. Sources: 1. Footon, George. "The World's Greatest Military Spies and Secret Service." 1917. 2. Hoose, Phillip. "We Were There Too." Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2001. 3. www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/lydia-barrington-darragh American Battlefield Trust Lydia Barrington  4. www.britannica.com/event/Quartering-Act...

Sybil Ludington, the patriotic heroine who helped warn the colonists of the English invasion of Connecticut and New York. Sources:    Berton Braley, “Sybil Ludington’s Ride,” This Week magazine, Washington, D.C., 4 April 1940  David Hackett Fischer, Paul Revere's Ride (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1994), 139. 6  Hoose, Phillip, We Were There, Too! (United States of American, 2001).  http...

President Manuel Quezon was a lawyer, leader, and humanitarian who took in Jewish refugees during World War II. Sources:  Borneman, Walter. (2017). MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific. Back Bay Books.  Ephraim, Frank. (2003). Escape to Manila-From Nazi Tyranny to Japanese Terror. Champaign, IL: The University of Illinois Press.  Jacobsen, G. (2004). We Refused to Die. Salt Lake City, Uta...

After his journey across the sea to Jamestown, young Thomas Savage was thrust into the care of Chief Powhattan to learn the Algonquian ways and language. Learn more about the boy interpreter and his adventures with author Ora Smith. www.orasmith.com www.spiritoffreedompageant.com https://www.amazon.com/stores/Ora-Smith/author/B07KTDRQKL

Ever wonder about Pochantas's husband? John Rolfe was a shipwreck survivor, widower, tobacco planter, ambassador, Jamestown leader, and father. Learn about his incredible journey. Sources:  Carson, Jane. “The Will of John Rolfe.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 58, no. 1 (1950): 58–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4245674 .   Fishwick, Marshall. “Jamestown.” April 23, 2019.  Historic...

Learn about Anne Burras Layton, the first Englishwoman to arrive and survive in the New World. Link to First Lady of Jamestown. Amazon.com: First Lady of Jamestown: A Historical Romance Based on the Life and Adventures of Anne Burras, the First Englishwoman to Survive the New World: 9798989918300: Smith, Tracy: Books Sources  Cotter, John and J. Paul Hudson. “New Discoveries at Jamestown Site of t...

Learn more about Mary Dyer, the first and only female Quaker to be executed in America for her beliefs. sources: Burrough, Edward. “A Declaration of the Sad and Great Persecution and Martyrdom of the People of God, called Quakers, in New-England, for the Worshipping of God.”1661. http://www.ushistory.org Wiliam Penn.  Winsser, Johan. Quieting Mary Dyer: Edward Burrough and Dyer's Letter to the Mas...

Ever wonder who Squanto was and why he helped the Pilgrims? Join me for my first podcast, History's Unsung Heroes, The Story behind Squanto. Sources: http://www.history.com Who Was Squanto, and What was His Role in the First Thanksgiving?  http://www.biography.com Squanto  http://www.worldhistory.org Squanto in the Primary Sources  http://www.worldhistory.org Samoset