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Neglected no more? A trust is giving $50 million to restore and preserve African American cultural landmarks. Among the 40 projects amplifying Black history and culture will be the preservation of the Chicago church where Emmett Till’s visitation and funeral were held in 1955. “It's exceptionally important that the Black experience is preserved and visible upon the American landscape,” Brent Leggs, who heads the fund from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, tells Nat Geo. See the full list.
222 years ago today: A discovery that helped unlock mysteries of the ancient past came only because soldiers were trying to strengthen a rundown fort in Egypt before an expected attack. The French soldiers on July 19, 1799 discovered the Rosetta Stone, which held a message in three languages—ancient Greek, Ptolemaic hieroglyphics, and Demotic Egyptian script. It took more than two decades to decipher and re-create the ancient Egyptian language, Erin Blakemore writes.
More French soldier news: In 1812, Napoleonic General Charles-Etienne Gudin was slain in battle near Smolensk, Russia. Last week, after a years-long effort, his remains were returned to France, which held a parade and reburial, RFE/RL reports. See the pageantry. (Hat tip: Nat Geo's Kristin Romey.)
Asian American history: Following rising violence, Illinois has become the first state to mandate modules on Asian American history in its public elementary and high schools. "We are setting a new standard for what it means to truly reckon with our history," Governor JB Pritzker said Friday. The instruction will begin in fall 2022, the BBC reports.
Faked? A sculpture found in the 16th century was seen at the time as something that Michelangelo might have faked. He didn’t, though he was inspired by it. The masterpiece, “Laocoön and His Sons,” discovered in 1506 under farmland in Rome, “had clearly lain hidden for centuries,” Rubén Montoya reports for Nat Geo’s History magazine. (Subscribers can read the tale here.)
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