12 Stories From History People Keep Getting Wrong

In February 1992, a piping hot McDonald's coffee spilled on the legs of 79-year-old Stella Liebeck in Albuquerque, NM. She sued McDonald's and won $2.9 million in damages.

The caseLiebeck v. McDonald'sPeople often call this lawsuit frivolous; consumers push hard on corporations for money. That is not what this case was about.

Liebeck suffered major injuries. This involved unsafely hot coffee—served at 190 degrees Fahrenheit.Third-degree burns sent her to the hospital for eight days. Despite these health problems, she asked for little initially. Legal scholar Barry Levenson said:Barry Levenson:

Stella did not truly want to sue McDonald's at first. Without lawyers, she wrote to McDonald's. She asked only for her out-of-pocket costs and her daughter's lost wages from staying home. Twenty thousand dollars and a promise that McDonald's would lower the coffee temperature would have stopped the lawsuit. McDonald's offered $800.

At trial, the jury sided with Liebeck, awarding her much more than she asked for. Damage to her public image was already done.McDonald's lawyers planned a PR campaign to discredit Liebeck's suit. They framed it as consumer greed and overreach.a disrespectful PR campaign to discredit Liebeck's suit and position it as an example of consumer overreach and greed.

The term “Middle Ages” does not suggest clean, neat people. It usually brings to mind people with dirty faces and dirt-caked fingernails.

Medieval Europeans did not know about germ theory or have access to antibiotics. However, they were not as dirty as Hollywood makes them seem. People in the Middle Ages practiced basic hygiene.Historian Eleanor Janegaput it in these terms:

The Middle Ages strongly believed “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Thinkers of that time saw physical beauty as spiritual purity. They viewed hygiene the same way: Impure bodies were unattractive and out of sync. They fixed imperfections by cleansing.

Bathing happened often. Though private baths might not have been available for everyone,public bathsgave city dwellers a way to stay clean. Even if people did not bathe daily, they at leastcleaned their face and teeth regularly, andwashed their hands before meals.

“The British are coming! The British are coming!”

Early American patriot Paul Revere shouted these words while riding from town to town during his midnight ride in April 1775.

Alas, he did not.

Paul Revere's midnight ride happened. As a revolutionary, he worked in protest and intelligence networks aiming to challenge British authority in the North American colonies. In April 1775, British regular troops moved, and Revere's job was toalert fellow patriotsThis happened to their movement.

Because his mission needed to beIt moved under the radar.Revere did not shout the intelligence; he likely called the troops “regulars.” The communities he passed were technically British, so saying “the British are coming” made no sense.

The public credits 19th-century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for imagining Revere's famous ride. In 1860, he published the poem “Paul Revere's Ride,” which made theThis is a nearly forgotten Boston patriot.always remembered.

One of modern history's deadliest pandemics began in 1918. A virulent influenza strain spread globally, killingMore than 50 million people got sick.globally. People called it the “Spanish flu."

This virus had nothing Spanish about it. Although no one knows where it started, some guess it beganon American soil. Wherever it began, outbreaks soon hit during WWI andThe outbreaks hit American soil.Spain was a country that stayed out of WWI. Its press avoided the same censorship as the nations fighting. Governments worried that reports of deadly flu outbreaks could damage morale. Therefore, Spanish newspapers reported on the outbreaks freely. The flu became known as “Spanish” only because those newspapers reported on it.What elementary school students have not heard is the story of the Pilgrims, the black-and-white English folk who traveled across the Atlantic on theThe flu spread on the Western Front, and from there, it reached the world.

Spain was a country in WWI. Its press reported on the situation.It is true the Pilgrims faced persecution in England. However, they did not come to the New World just for religious freedom. They had already found religious freedom in the Netherlands. What they lacked there was steady jobs and cultural unity. That pushed them to look toward North America. Also, these religious separatists did not call themselves Pilgrims; they called themselves “Saints.”They were not the only people on the Mayflower. About two-thirds of the passengers called themselves “Strangers”.Spanish newspapers reported on the outbreaks freely.News trickled out from Spain about the outbreaks. People called the flu 'Spanish' just because those newspapers reported it.

What elementary school student has never heard the story of the Pilgrims? These were English folk in black-and-white clothes who traveled across the Atlantic on theMayflower.In 1620, they sought religious freedom. This history tells us English Separatists—radical Protestants who wanted to split from the Church of England—sought America as a place to practice their faith without fear of being persecuted.They wanted to practice their faith in America where they faced no persecution.

ItisThe Pilgrims faced trouble in England. But they did not come to the New World for religious freedom. They alreadyfound religious freedom in the Netherlands.What they lacked there was steady work and cultural unity. This pushed them to look toward North America. These religious separatists did not call themselves Pilgrims; theycalled themselves “Saints.”

They were not the only people on theMayflower.However, about two-thirds of the people on the ship were what the Saints called “StrangersFolks who did not follow their brand of Christianity came. Many skilled workers traveled to North America to help build a new colony. Others were just crew members of the Mayflower.Mayflower.

Ironically, many Pilgrims experienced persecution in England. They did not allow religious dissent within their community and often chased those who adopted other beliefs.experienced persecutionin England, theydid not tolerate religious dissentThe group did not tolerate religious dissent within their own community and often persecuted those who adopted alternative beliefs.

On December 16, 1773, theSons of LibertyThis group sought to end unfair taxes and British rule in North America. Dozens of men rushed into Boston Harbor, dumping 342 tea chests into the cold water.

Why did those daring Bostonians do it?

People thought the protest was only about higher taxes. Years earlier, Parliament's Townshend Acts taxed tea and angered colonists. These taxes pushed groups to urge merchants not to import British goods.not to import British goods. Some even smuggled goods and brought in Dutch tea.

The main reason for the Boston Tea Party was the Tea Act. This act gave the East India Company, a huge British corporation, a monopoly on tea in the colonies.a monopoly on teain the colonies along witha tax break. This hurt tea smugglers because East India Company tea was cheaper than illegally imported tea.

American merchants were furious. They saw the monopoly as an attack on their business. Why should the East India Company get a tea monopoly? So, they acted on their own in what became a famous political move.

Hollywood often shows someone trying a corset for the first time. The tight laces squeeze all the air from their lungs. The wearer can barely move and might even pass out.

For centuries, corsets shaped women's bodies. They used materials likewhalebone and steelWhalebone and steel stays and corsets were fixtures of women's fashion in European society from the 16th to the early 20th centuries.

Were these garments painfully tight? The majority of women, even working-class ones doing physical labor, did not tighten their corsets too much and could move all day without fainting or pain.the majority of womeneven working-class ones who performed physical labor - did not overly tighten their corsets, and could move about their day without fainting or suffering.

At the same time, corsets caused medical and political worry.Doctors worried about the health risks the clothing posed for women.Over-tightening corsets could truly reshape the rib cage, posing dangers to women's health.reshape the rib cageand reduce lung capacity. But this seemed to be the exception, not the rule. Some companies manufactured and promotedcomfortable corsets.

By the end of the 19th century, a new women's movement grew. Corsets showed a woman's limited role in society. Reformers campaigned to end the use of these garments.end the use of the garments.

Among the many myths about American presidents, the most silly is that 27th President William Howard Taft got stuck in his bathtub.No evidence shows this event occurred.US President William Howard Taft was not trapped in a tub.

Taft did not get stuck in the bath. However, Taft reportedly enjoyed a good soak and built large bathtubs to accommodate his body.The bathtubs accommodated his body.He stood six feet tall. During his presidency, he might have weighed over 300 pounds. He had a [missing information].He had a tub that weighed a ton.Taft installed this tub on a ship for his personal use.

Many think Europeans found a pristine Eden when they colonized North America. However, few people lived there. Since it was empty and untouched, they thought the New World was ready to take.

When Christopher Columbus landed in 1492 and started European colonization of the western hemisphere, the Americas held diverse cultural regions with an estimated 60 million people.The population reached 60 million.This number is close toEurope's population in 1500.In 1500, asHistorian Charles C. Mann told NPR:Charles C. Mann told NPR:

From southern Maine to the Carolinas, you saw farms, cleared land, and villages with wooden walls. In the Southeast, you saw priestly chiefdoms centered on thousands of mounds that still exist. Further down, you found what is called the Aztec empire, which had Tenutchtitlan, now Mexico City, as its capital.

Contact between Europeans and Americans changed these worlds. As more European traders, fishermen, and slave traders traveled the Atlantic seaboard, they brought illnesses thatrapidly spread through Native communities.Native communities had no immunity to these illnesses. Entire villages turned into ghost towns. On the coast alone, plagues killed about 90% of the people by the early 17th century.Plagues killed roughly 90% of the people.This happened by the early 17th century.

When the Pilgrims reached what became Massachusetts, they found the remains of an abandoned Wampanoag village belonging to the Patuxet.The village belonged to the Patuxet.Cornfields surrounded the village, showing the previous inhabitants farmed the land. Still, the colonizers saw a tragedy on the site, finding human bones and skulls and calling it a sad spectacle to behold.Colonizers saw human bones and skulls and called it a sad spectacle to behold.What happened to the Patuxet? The same thing happened along the coast: disease wiped everyone out.Disease wiped everyone out.The English newcomers built their home, initially named Plimoth, on Patuxet land.

The land the Pilgrims met was not accidental. More than 100 years of contact brought devastating diseases to America's shores.

Bushranger Ned Kelly made a famous last statement.Australian outlaw turned folk hero.After learning to steal horses and cattle, then robbing banks, he and his gang gained fame and became some of Australia's most wanted criminals in the late 1870s.

Ned Kelly's crime spree stopped in June 1880. A police shoot-out ended the gang's arrest. Kelly survived because he put on an iron suit that blocked some bullets.He donned an iron suit.That suit deflected some bullets.

Kelly faced execution in November 1880. Popular stories claim Kelly climbed the gallows and said his last words: “Such is life.”

Actually, those words may not be his last ones.No men near Kelly during his execution recorded hearing him say those words. Different journalists at the scene reported different things, suggesting they filled in the gaps themselves.None of the men physically near Kelly at execution heard him utter those words.

The Civil War remains a major American history event. Historians write books marking every step toward war and analyzing the details leading to the fight between the federal government and rebel secessions.

Some history students simplify these debates into easy conclusions: states' rights, money issues, and a cultural clash between the North and South. These arguments really boil down to the same thing.These arguments boil down to the same thing.The conflict involved slavery. Slavery was an economic system, and the slavery question long became a states' rights issue. Slavery was also a social system that created cultural differences between the North and South.

President Abraham Lincoln had a complex relationship with abolitionism.Many soldiers joined the Federal Army just to keep the Union together, not to end slavery. But seceding states specifically cited slavery as their reason for leaving the Union.Many soldiers enlisted in the Federal Army to keep the Union. They did not join to end slavery. However, seceding states cited slavery as the reason they left the Union.

In December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede. It announced its reason in its Declaration of Secession. The signatories made their reasons clear.South Carolina became the first state to secede in December 1860. It announced its reason in its Declaration of Secession. The signatories made their reasons clear.The Civil War concerned slavery. Full stop.

[A]n growing hostility from non-slaveholding States toward slavery caused them to ignore their duties. The laws of the General Government stopped working for the Constitution's goals. A line was drawn across the Union. States north of that line united to elect a President whose views opposed slavery. He managed the government because he stated the 'Government cannot last forever half slave, half free,' and the public must accept that slavery is ending.

When someone tells you who they are, believe them. South Carolinians showed they feared slavery was threatened. This fear drove their decision to secede. Slavery was central to the Civil War.

One myth that persists on social mediaSocial media circulates 'There Was No Such Thing As 'White Slavery' In The Caribbean'.The claim states Africans were not the only people forced into Atlantic slavery; Irish people were also enslaved.

This myth appeared in the book.To Hell or BarbadosSean O'Callaghan, a journalist, not a historian, claimed Irish people were enslaved in the Caribbean, but this claim is wrong. The Irish were never legally enslaved in the Caribbean; they were indentured servants.indentured servants.

Indentured servitude was a form of unfree labor in the Americas. Immigrants, some from Ireland, were transported to the Americas and worked for a fixed term.they worked for a fixed term. Some indentured servantswillingly enteredthese contracts to gain passage to the New World. Other times, the servitude resulted from punishment for convicts or political prisoners.political prisoners.

Indentured servitude is not slavery. The centuries-long Atlantic slave system remains a horrific chapter in human history. Traders captured, enslaved, and transported more than 12 million Africans across the Atlantic to labor in violent, dehumanizing conditions in the Americas. By the end of the 17th century, this system was explicitly based on race.more than 12 million Africansacross the Atlantic to labor in violent and dehumanizing conditions in the Americas. The system ended by the end of the 17th century.explicitly based on race.

Indentured servants did not expect permanent servitude. When their labor term ended, they became free. Enslaved Africans had no exit; they could be born into slavery and likely passed it on.Jerome S. Handler and Matthew C. Reillyindentured servitude and African slavery are two separate systems.

Barbados laws recognized servitude and slavery early. Significant differences appeared in how European and African laborers were categorized and governed, plus how racial features linked to labor status. These laws show clear distinctions between servants and slaves, regardless of enforcement.

The myth of Irish slaves is not just mistaken history. Hate groups use it to support their agenda. Alex Amend pointed out that white supremacist groups embrace and spread the myth.Alex Amendfor the Southern Poverty Law Center, white supremacist groups embrace and spread the myth.

Revisionism attracts Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, Neo-Confederates, and Holocaust deniers. Racist trolls use the myth to attack the Black Lives Matter movement. More concerning is its widespread use by American internet users as 'Irish pride.'

History professor Ciaran O'Neill agrees: “They want to create false equivalence between the Atlantic slave trade and the phenomenon of indentured Irish labour in the Caribbean.”