Most of us get a filtered version of history in class: condensed timelines, big names, and familiar battles. But plenty of uncomfortable moments get left behind. These overlooked facts paint a fuller picture of how unpredictable—and occasionally absurd—our collective past really was.
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Questionable Work Behavior
President Lyndon B. Johnson was known for his blunt demeanor, but he also took things to awkward extremes. In meetings, he reportedly discussed private matters no one asked about, used inappropriate jokes, and even intimidated others by acting overly casual in restrooms.
A Plan to Replace the President With a General
In 1933, a group of financiers tried to recruit retired Marine General Smedley Butler to lead a takeover of the White House and replace President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a military-style leader. However, Butler exposed the plot.
The Dark Side of Columbus’s Voyages
Beyond the maps and ships, Columbus’s expeditions also included forced labor and severe mistreatment of Indigenous people. Crew members targeted young girls for forced relationships, and adults were given impossible quotas to meet under threat of physical punishment.
Gandhi’s Unusual Celibacy Test
Mahatma Gandhi promoted a strict lifestyle, but one personal method sparked lasting debate. To prove his self-control, he slept beside much younger women, sometimes family members, without clothes. Though he wrote openly about it, many of his peers found the practice troubling and distanced themselves.
The Alamo’s Omitted Backstory
Schoolbooks often frame the Alamo as a heroic last stand, but some deeper causes behind the Texas Revolution include tensions over slavery. Mexico had abolished it, while many settlers moving into Texas supported it. Tejano allies who fought alongside Anglo settlers were later written out of many mainstream accounts.
A Literary Pep Talk You Won’t Find in Class
Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were friends with a strange history. In Hemingway’s posthumous memoir, he recounted how Fitzgerald once shared insecurities about his body. Hemingway offered reassurance in a way that’s rarely, if ever, included in English class syllabi.
A Mob Event
In 1871, over 500 people stormed Los Angeles’s Chinatown after a chaotic incident that resulted in an officer’s passing. Fueled by false rumors, a group of people entered the neighborhood and took the lives of Chinese American residents.
Mississippi’s Extremely Late Move
The 13th Amendment, which banned forced labor, was passed in 1865. Most states ratified it quickly, except Mississippi, which didn’t finalize it until 1995 and didn’t officially record it until 2013. That means it took nearly 150 years to symbolically support a constitutional change that was long accepted nationwide.
Native American Code Talkers Who Confused the Enemy
In major global conflicts, Native American officers used their languages as secure communication methods. The Choctaw were first, and the Navajo later developed the most complex code. These unbreakable systems played a critical role but received little recognition for decades.
A Secret Government Project Using Hallucinogens
U.S. intelligence once launched a program to test whether substances could influence human behavior. Many people were unknowingly part of these experiments, which sometimes involved luring them to hidden rooms and observing their reactions. The project was eventually exposed and widely condemned.
Coca-Cola’s Surprising Origin
John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola to cope with his dependence on pain relievers after a battlefield injury. The first versions included coca leaf extract and caffeine from kola nuts. Although marketed as a cure-all, it didn’t help him fully recover.
Wonder Woman’s Creator Had a Nontraditional Family
Psychologist William Moulton Marston lived with both his wife and another woman, Olive Byrne. They shared a home and raised children together, but the arrangement stayed private. Byrne inspired elements of Wonder Woman’s look and philosophy, while the two women supported Marston’s career and each other.
The Chaos That Sparked Asian American Advocacy
Chinese-American Vincent Chin was celebrating his upcoming wedding in 1982 when he was struck by two men who were angry about the rise of Japanese auto companies. Sadly, Chin didn’t survive. The case led to a national movement pushing for civil rights protections for Asian Americans.
What Sparked a Movement in Greenwich Village
The 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn began after officers surveyed a New York bar known to serve LGBTQ patrons. Tired of repeated harassment, patrons pushed back. The following days of protests are seen as the start of organized advocacy for human rights, led by figures like Marsha P. Johnson.
An Abandoned Plan to Justify Conflict With Cuba
In the early 1960s, U.S. officials drafted a plan to stage false events and blame them on Cuba. These included faking chaos among civilians and personnel to build public support for a full-scale conflict. The plan reached top defense leaders but was ultimately rejected by the White House.