• Apprentices: International Edition

    The living history of American immigration in The Bronx Since the days of Jonas Bronck, the first Swedish settler to make his home on native Lenape land in 1639, the area known today as The Bronx has welcomed waves of migration from Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Africa and the American South. The timeless […]

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    September 30, 2020 by theglassfiles
  • Lieutenant Colonel Lee Andrew Archer

    Back in the early 1940s when the U.S. Army did not accept black pilots, my grandfather, Lee Andrew Archer, was accepted into an experimental training program for black aviators at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama. There, he graduated first in his class and during World War II he became the first and only […]

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    December 4, 2016 by theglassfiles
  • Give thanks to the woman who brought us Thanksgiving

    The First Thanksgiving is said to have taken place in 1621. The painting below is in the public domain and one of the first and only results our search came up with that shows the scene of intercultural exchange that legend says inspired the celebration. Painted 300 years after the first pilgrims arrived in this […]

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    November 19, 2016 by theglassfiles
  • A small peek at Casablanca and Jemaa-el-Fnaa, Morocco

    Rummaging through some photos in our photo chest, I found these two photos from my mother’s childhood and adolescence in Morocco, which is also where my parents met while in high school. Morocco was a French protectorate from 1912 to 1956. Many French nationals settled in Morocco while the French government exploited Morocco’s fertile lands […]

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    October 26, 2016 by theglassfiles
  • Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

    The Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca is a fortress located just outside of the city of Santiago de Cuba. It was designed by the Italian, Giovanni Battista Antonelli, to serve as protection against pirates under Cuba’s Spanish rule. Its construction lasted 62 years, from 1638 to 1700. It underwent many attacks, including ones […]

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    October 26, 2016 by theglassfiles