On April 30 2019, the following post appeared (archived here) claiming Congress declared the Bible the “Word of God” via an October 1982 law, and promptly went viral. It shows an image of yellowed paper that appears to be an official declaration from Congress, and above labeling for “Public Law 97-280,” a title reads: CONGRESS DECLARES …
Did Congress Declare the Bible the ‘Word of God’? Read More »
A popular and lengthy social media quote attributed to Frida Kahlo (containing the lines “leaving is not enough” and “take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic”) was shared once again in early April 2019 on Facebook — but the quote and its variations have been around for several years: A popular early …
Who said America has “socialism for the rich” and “rugged individualism for the poor” — MLK Jr. or Bernie Sanders?
In March 2019, United States President Donald Trump made several comments about Sen. John McCain, who died of brain cancer the previous August. Trump’s 2019 comments continued a feud that he had had with McCain before his death: President Donald Trump’s feud with the late Sen. John McCain dates back many years, to long before …
In March 2019, two viral Facebook posts circulated with an image of an alarmingly inaccurate “Why Did Slaves Come to America?” worksheet. The viral Facebook posts were part of a larger controversy in February and March 2019 about myriad incomplete, deeply inaccurate, and outright misleading school lessons on slavery in various places across the United States in …
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On March 14 2019, the Facebook page “Pictures in History” shared an image (archived here) with the following status update: Unwanted babies for sale in France during World War II, 1940 This wasn’t this particular group’s first such outlandish claim. In late February 2019, the page shared a widely-reposted image purportedly showing wives engaged in a “Christmas tradition” of …
Is This a World War II Photograph of Unwanted Babies for Sale in France? Read More »
On February 21 2019, economist and former United States Secretary of Labor Robert Reich published a tweet alongside what appeared to be an image of two political buttons from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s and Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaigns: Although Reich made no specific reference to the “say ‘no’ to socialism” buttons shown, he wrote: For over …
Are FDR and LBJ Era ‘Say No to Socialism’ Buttons Authentic? Read More »
On February 13 2019, a Facebook user shared a screenshot of a tweet, originally tweeted a day earlier by @HISTORY about a purported version of the Underground Railroad running south to Mexico: Text for the tweet read: Slaveholders knew that enslaved people were escaping to Mexico, and the U.S. tried to get Mexico to sign …
On February 8 2019, a Facebook user shared the following meme, featuring images of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez above a purported quote from British wartime leader Winston Churchill: Underneath two identical images of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it featured a photograph of Churchill and a quote: CHURCHILL ON SOCIALISM: “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of …
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In February 2019, a meme about the 1921 Tulsa race riot was shared to Facebook, racking up tens of thousands of shares in 24 hours: Above what looked to be an archival photograph of Ku Klux Klan members lining a dirt road, and caption (“History we should all know”), it read: May 31st 1921 The …
