When producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson conceived a situation comedy called The Monkees in 1965, they hoped to create a ratings success by blurring the line between pop music and television. The show was about a band was composed …

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key pens a poem which is later set to music and in 1931 becomes America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The poem, originally titled “The Defence of Fort McHenry,” was written after Key …

English adventurer John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia–the first permanent English settlement in North America. Smith, a colorful figure, had won popularity in the colony because of his organizational abilities and effectiveness in dealing with local Native …

On this day in 1780, Patriot Francis Marion’s Carolina militia routed Loyalist’s forces at Blue Savannah, South Carolina, and in the process Marion won new recruits to the Patriot cause.

Marion, a mere five feet tall, won fame and the …