Remember when you had to go to the library to read about the 1985 MOVE bombing?

I used to spend hours in the Philadelphia Free Library microfilm room just to piece together what really happened that day. Now, you can find the full police commission report and survivor accounts online in about ten minutes. The shift happened around 2010 when more archives were digitized, but it's still not taught in most schools. Anyone else have a story like that, where the internet finally gave you access to a hidden history?

3 comments

3 Comments

rileycooper2mo ago

Totally get what you mean about hidden history coming online! I had the same thing trying to learn about the Tulsa Race Massacre. Before, it was just a footnote, but then I found all these photos and oral history interviews from survivors that just blew my mind. It made the whole event feel real in a way a textbook paragraph never could.

taraw162mo ago

The Tulsa stuff @rileycooper mentioned is a perfect example. I spent a whole weekend down a rabbit hole reading those survivor interviews, and it was way more heavy than any dry textbook. Makes you realize how much gets left out. My own deep dive was on the '93 Waco siege, which was a whole different kind of mess once you get past the basic news clips.

gavin_kim31mo ago

Yeah, it's wild how much was just locked away. I had a similar thing with the Kent State shootings. All I ever got in school was a single sentence, but finding those old radio broadcasts and seeing the photos of the students online... it changes how you see things. Makes it personal, not just a date to memorize.