Did Pirates Really Wear Eye Patches?

Vintage pirate illustration

Author Kristina Wright

April 29, 2026

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Picture a pirate and you may think of the costumes you’ve seen in films and on Halloween: a tricorn hat, a parrot on the shoulder, a peg leg or a hook hand, and of course, that iconic black eye patch. The one-eyed pirate is such a familiar image that it’s easy to assume it must be rooted in fact — but is it?

Pop culture has played a powerful role in shaping our idea of pirates, but there’s little evidence that these seafarers commonly wore eye patches. So where does this image come from? And were eye patches really a defining part of pirate life?

Covering Battle Injuries

Life at sea was undeniably dangerous, so the most straightforward explanation for how pirates became associated with eye patches is also the most historically plausible: the possibility they had lost an eye. Naval battles, splintered wood, and the routine hazards of shipboard life could all lead to facial injuries. And it would be expected for a sailor to cover the damaged eye to protect it from further injury and infection.

There are a few historical examples that support this possibility. Richard Griffin, a member of 17th-century English naval officer Captain Thomas Pound’s crew, survived having an eye shot out during the fight at Tarpaulin Cove in Massachusetts (though there is no evidence he wore an eye patch). Another supporting case is Captain Samuel Burgess, a pirate active around Madagascar in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, who lived for years after losing an eye, though the loss resulted from disease rather than battle. In other words, pirates sometimes lived for years with missing eyes, making the occasional use of an eye patch entirely likely.

Protecting Night Vision

One of the most popular modern explanations for pirate eye patches has to do with the practical realities of life aboard ship. Sailors frequently moved between the bright glare of the upper deck and the dim, enclosed spaces below. Because human eyes need time to adjust between light and darkness, that transition could leave someone effectively blind for several moments — a serious disadvantage during battle or an emergency.

This has led to the enduring theory that pirates used eye patches to preserve night vision. By keeping one eye covered in daylight, the covered eye would remain adapted to low light. When going below deck, the sailor could switch the patch to the other eye and immediately see in the dark. Modern demonstrations show that this idea works in principle, which helps explain why the theory remains so popular.

The problem is that there’s no historical evidence tying this clever trick specifically to pirates. The explanation is logical and scientifically plausible, but it appears to be a modern interpretation attached to an already famous image.

Credit: © Culture Club—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

What the Historical Record Actually Shows

The so-called golden age of piracy, which produced many of the famous names we still remember, was relatively brief, stretching from the late 1600s into the early 1700s. If eye patches had truly been common among pirates, we would expect to see them appear regularly in the sources closest to that era. Instead, pirate logs, naval records, court documents, and eyewitness descriptions are almost silent on the subject, even though those same sources are often rich in details about clothing, weapons, habits, and physical appearance.

A General History of the Pyrates (1724), one of the most important early accounts of pirate life, describes famous figures in vivid detail, including how they dressed, their mannerisms, and the theatrical ways some pirates cultivated fear. Blackbeard, for example, is described through his heavy weaponry and terrifying demeanor. The text even specifically notes his eyes, calling them “fierce and wild,” which makes the absence of any mention of an eye patch in descriptions of other pirates all the more striking.

Pirates in Literature

The pirate eye patch seems to owe far more to later storytelling traditions than to reality. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, British caricaturists such as Thomas Rowlandson and Isaac and George Cruikshank popularized the figure of the battle-scarred sailor, often shown with missing limbs, facial scars, and a covered eye. These figures were not necessarily pirates, but they established a visual pattern of maritime toughness and injury that pirate imagery could easily borrow.

At the same time, popular pirate literature was turning historical criminals into dramatic characters. Charles Ellms’ The Pirates Own Book (1837), one of the century’s most widely read pirate collections, delivered the swashbuckler legend to a mass audience. Its inclusion of Rahmah ibn Jabir, the feared raider who operated in the Persian Gulf in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, is a good example of how history and myth could merge. Known as “the terror of the Gulf,” Rahmah spent decades fighting, raiding, and warring at sea, and received numerous battle injuries, including the loss of an eye in combat.

By the late 19th century, these literary and illustrated traditions were further adapted in works such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island(1883). While its most iconic pirate, Long John Silver, is remembered for his wooden leg rather than an eye patch, Stevenson’s novel helped standardize the broader image of a pirate. In subsequent adaptations and children’s literature, those traits were amplified and eye patches were often added, emphasizing violence and menace.

Credit: © Culture Club/Bridgeman—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

An Archetype Is Born

Much of the pirate image we now take for granted was shaped by the late-19th-century imagination of writer and illustrator Howard Pyle. In his pirate stories and paintings, many collected in Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates, he invented his own ideas for how pirates should look, because almost no reliable visual record of real pirate clothing existed. He gave them colorful sashes, flowing shirts, gold earrings, and dramatic headscarves. The style drew in part from Romani dress rather than documented seafaring clothing, helping create the familiar flamboyant pirate costume.

Pyle’s vision proved enormously influential. His pirate paintings and stories shaped the look of early adventure films, from the roles played by Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn to much later depictions in Pirates of the Caribbean. His creative vision — which incorporated familiar elements such as the eye patch and peg leg — became the pirate archetype we recognize today.

7 Myths About the American Revolution

Declaration signing, 1776

Author Fran Hoepfner

April 23, 2026

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The American Revolution was one of the most significant conflicts of the 18th century. It not only led to the 13 original colonies gaining independence from Great Britain, but also helped establish democracy and representation as a path for governments around the world. Today, schools teach the famous events and figures from this chapter of American history year after year, from the rebellious Boston Tea Party to Paul Revere’s “midnight ride” to the “shot heard round the world” during the Revolutionary War. But the storied details of the nation’s founding aren’t always completely accurate, and there are plenty of myths that persist to this day.

Myth: The American Colonies Went to War Solely Over Taxes

The phrase “taxation without representation” is a popular and easy-to-remember slogan of the American Revolution, based on the argument laid out in Patrick Henry’s Virginia Resolves in 1765. Henry wrote a series of resolutions that were passed in Virginia’s House of Burgesses in response to the Stamp Act, which levied additional taxes on the British colonies in America. Though taxes were a major point of contention between the colonists and the British crown, they were not the sole reason for the conflict. Mounting tensions between American colonists and the British were also caused by disputes over land distribution — the British planned to reserve the western part of North America for Indigenous peoples, angering colonists with plans to expand outward.

Myth: Paul Revere Was the Only Rider Who Warned About the British

Paul Revere’s “midnight ride” was immortalized by painter Grant Wood’s 1931 depiction of the event, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” which was inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1860 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.” While Revere did ride out the evening of April 18, 1775, to warn Sons of Liberty leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the arrival of British troops, he wasn’t alone. Patriots William Dawes and Samuel Prescott also rode on different routes through the greater Boston area. All three riders were stopped by the British, but managed to escape and complete their task, warning the rebels that an attack was coming.

Myth: The Phrase “Don’t Fire Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes” Was Coined During the Revolution

The phrase “don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes” is used as shorthand today, meant as a warning against reacting too quickly. The idiom is typically credited to Colonel Israel Putnam at the Battle of Bunker Hill. But there’s no concrete evidence that Putnam uttered the phrase, or that it was first said during that particular battle, or even during the Revolutionary War. In fact, some historians have traced the phrase back to the Seven Years’ War a decade earlier, or even to Prussian soldiers during various battles in the 18th century. It’s likely this was a phrase already known to soldiers before the American Revolution.

Myth: The Declaration of Independence Was Signed on July 4

Every year, Americans celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth of July, and it’s commonly believed that July 4, 1776, marks the date the Declaration of Independence was signed. In reality, the Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2, and the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted two days later on July 4. (John Adams even predicted that July 2 would be celebrated as a national holiday for centuries to come.) The signing of the document, meanwhile, didn’t begin for another month; John Hancock was the first founding father to sign the declaration, on August 2, 1776.

Myth: The Liberty Bell Cracked While the Declaration of Independence Was Being Read

No trip to Philadelphia is complete without a visit to the Liberty Bell, a 2,000-pound bell that hangs in Independence Hall (formerly the Pennsylvania State House). The bell was ordered from London by Pennsylvania statesman Isaac Norris in 1751, and when it arrived stateside, it cracked on the first ring. The original bell was then melted down and recast in Philadelphia, and it was this second iteration of the Liberty Bell that was rung to celebrate the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776. According to lore, the bell fractured again at this historic moment, but as far as records show, no cracks appeared that day. The infamous split in the current bell actually occurred sometime in the mid-19th century; the first record of the blemish appears in 1846.

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Myth: George Washington Was a Military Mastermind

The nation’s first President is possibly the most famous American of all time, but he was not quite the military mastermind that he’s often credited as being. Most of the military decisions during the Revolutionary War were hidden from the public, sparing people the details of the indecision that Washington often faced in times of strife. The general had never commanded a large unit before leading the Continental Army, and though his bravery was lauded, his tactician skills left something to be desired, by some accounts. In the years after the war, Thomas Paine — famous for writing the revolutionary book Common Sense — wrote that Washington “slept away [his] time in the field.” That said, Washington’s skills as a leader were unparalleled, and his willingness to step down from the presidency after two terms allowed America’s fledgling democracy to establish a system of shifting leaders.

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Myth: Americans Were United in Their Support of the War

The “spirit of ’76” — a nickname for the patriotic fervor around the revolution — was really only a spirit of around 70% to 80% of the population at the time. The rest of the colonists were either loyal to the crown or skeptical of conflict. Some of this divide occurred because of geography, as New England colonists were dragged into the conflict sooner than those in the South. Many people were concerned with the cost (human and financial) of going to war with one of the world’s most powerful empires, and some militia fighters had to be paid to enlist rather than volunteering for the cause. By the end of the revolution, however, enthusiasm for American independence was more widespread. This was due in part to a mass exodus of loyalists: By 1786, between 60,000 and 80,000 loyalists left the colonies to go back to Great Britain.

Was Aesop a Real Person?

Aesop, legendary Greek fabulist

Author Kristina Wright

April 9, 2026

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For more than two millennia, readers have enjoyed the brief, morally pointed tales known as Aesop’s fables. For many of us, these stories were among the first we heard as children, alongside Mother Goose rhymes and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Long before we knew anything about ancient Greece, we learned that a steady pace could win the race, that dishonesty would cost us others’ trust, and that pride often comes before a fall.

Stories such as “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and “The Lion and the Mouse” have circulated in classrooms, children’s books, and popular culture. Their appeal lies in their simple, short narratives, often featuring animals with human traits, that deliver clear, memorable lessons. And they tend to stay with us — many of us can still recall a favorite fable and the moral it carried.

Yet while the fables themselves are widely known, the figure to whom they are attributed — Aesop — remains uncertain. Was Aesop a real person? And if so, who was this mysterious fabulist?

Credit: Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; object no. RP-P-2016-49-18-19

The First Mentions of Aesop

Ancient sources place Aesop in the Greek world of the late seventh to mid-sixth centuries BCE, often describing him as an enslaved storyteller. But the evidence is limited, indirect, and sometimes contradictory — a mix of early references, later embellishments, and literary tradition, making Aesop one of antiquity’s more elusive figures.

The earliest surviving mentions of Aesop appear in Greek texts written more than a century after he supposedly lived. The fifth-century BCE historian Herodotus refers to Aesop as an enslaved person on the island of Samos and notes that he was killed at Delphi. The account is brief and lacks detail, but it is widely treated as the earliest historical reference.

In the fourth century BCE, Aristotle mentions Aesop in Rhetoric, portraying him as a storyteller whose fables could be used as persuasive examples in political contexts. Aristotle cites a fable attributed to Aesop, involving a fox and a hedgehog, as an example of how storytellers can employ moral tales to persuade or instruct in political contexts. This suggests that by Aristotle’s time, Aesop was already linked with a recognizable body of moral storytelling used for public argument and instruction.

Later ancient writers expand on these details, portraying Aesop as an enslaved man who gained freedom through intelligence and wit and who used fables to comment indirectly on social and political life. However, these accounts vary in detail and reliability, and none provides a verifiable biography.

How Aesop’s Life Turned Into Legend

By the early centuries CE, Aesop’s life had become the subject of extended narrative. The most influential example, the Greek text Life of Aesop, likely composed between the first and second centuries CE, presents a dramatic and often comic biography rather than a strictly historical account.

In this version, Aesop is depicted as physically unattractive but exceptionally clever — an enslaved person who rises to prominence through wit and storytelling. The narrative places him in the company of figures such as Solon and Croesus and ends with his execution at Delphi after a conflict with local residents.

Modern scholars generally treat the Life of Aesop as fictional or semifictional, reflecting popular storytelling traditions of the time. While it preserves some elements found in earlier sources — such as Aesop’s status as an enslaved storyteller and his death at Delphi — most of its details are considered later inventions. In this way, Aesop himself became a kind of fable character: a clever underdog, using his words and wit to challenge those in power.

These Famous Fables Weren’t Written Down at First

The stories attributed to Aesop were not recorded during his lifetime. In classical Greece, short fables circulated orally and were commonly used as rhetorical tools in speeches, debates, and instruction. Their brevity and clarity made them easy to remember, repeat, and adapt for different situations. Similar storytelling traditions also existed beyond Greece, particularly in India and the Middle East, where collections of moral tales developed independently and later intersected with Aesop’s stories through translation and cultural exchange.

A written collection of fables attributed to Aesop was probably compiled in the fourth century BCE by Demetrius of Phalerum, though this version has not survived. Over time, other writers helped preserve and reshape the material. The Roman writer Phaedrus, in the first century CE, turned many of the fables into Latin verse, while the Greek poet Babrius produced similar poetic versions.

Because these stories were transmitted across generations and cultures, they evolved. New fables were added, others were adapted, and many were likely never connected to a single original author. As a result, “Aesop” gradually became less a historical voice and more a name attached to a broader storytelling tradition.

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How Aesop Became Bigger Than a Single Person

Whether or not Aesop can be identified as a single historical individual, his cultural role is clear. By the classical period, he was already regarded as the archetypal teller of fables — a reputation that only grew in later centuries.

In the medieval and early modern periods, collections of Aesopic fables were translated, adapted, and widely printed across Europe. With the spread of the printing press, they became standard tools of moral and literary education, shaping how generations of readers encountered storytelling and ethical lessons.

So was Aesop real? Modern scholarship takes a cautious view. He may have been a real storyteller in the Greek world of the sixth century BCE, but the details of his life cannot be firmly established. Over time, his name became attached to a growing and evolving body of stories. Like Homer, his life blurs the line between history and legend — a person whose identity has been absorbed into the tradition he represents.

6 History ‘Facts’ That Aren’t Actually True

Napoleon Bonaparte circa 1811

Author Michael Nordine

March 24, 2026

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Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, but what about those who think they’re learning history but are actually reading myths? A number of well-known historical anecdotes are either exaggerated or completely false, making the task of discerning fact from fiction all the more difficult. From apocrypha to popular misconceptions, here are six historical “facts” that aren’t true.

Myth: People Were Burned at the Stake During the Salem Witch Trials

Though 20 different people were indeed convicted of witchcraft during the infamous Salem hearings of 1692 to 1693, none of them were burned at the stake. Nineteen of them — 14 women and five men — were hanged, five died in jail, and one man was pressed to death with stones after refusing to enter a plea. The confusion stems from the fact that those found guilty of witchcraft in Europe (where it was treated as heresy) were burned at the stake. “Burning was supposedly a way to purify the convict, and also as a threat to uncover conspiracies,” according to The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History author Peter Hoffer. Hanging them, meanwhile, was punitive.

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Myth: Cleopatra Was Egyptian

Though she ruled over Egypt as its last pharaoh and was born in the ancient kingdom, Cleopatra wasn’t ethnically Egyptian. As part of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was actually a Macedonian Greek believed to have descended from one of Alexander the Great’s generals. Her name came from the ancient Greek Kleopátra (Κλεοπάτρα), meaning “honor of the father” or “glory of her father.” She was, however, the first of her line to learn the Egyptian language and is known to have made other efforts to embrace her subjects’ customs.

Myth: Marie Antoinette Said “Let Them Eat Cake”

It’s gone down in history as one of the most out-of-touch quotes of all time — one that emblematized the last queen of France’s disregard for her own people. There’s just one problem: Marie Antoinette never said it. The actual words in question, “qu’ils mangent de la brioche,” come from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s autobiographical book Confessions, in which he wrote: “At length I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: ‘Then let them eat brioches.’”

That passage was written in 1765, at which time Marie Antoinette was still a child and had yet to step foot in the country she helped rule from 1774 until the French monarchy was abolished in 1792, a year before her execution. After accidentally stepping on the executioner’s foot, she spoke her last words, which were considerably more polite than the quote so often attributed to her: “Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose.”

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Myth: Napoleon Was Short

Despite having a certain complex named after him, Napoleon Bonaparte was of average height for his time. Part of the confusion stems from the nickname “Le Petit Caporal,” which makes him sound “little” but was actually a term of endearment among his troops. There’s also the fact that inches were measured differently in 19th-century France than they are today. The former was equivalent to 2.71 centimeters, whereas the current measurement is 2.35 centimeters, which explains why he was only considered 5 feet, 2 inches tall when he died. Most estimates put him closer to 5 feet, 6 inches or 5 feet, 7 inches — not exactly a towering figure, but average or slightly above average by 18th-century standards.

Myth: The Library of Alexandria Burned Down in a Fire

Few symbols of knowledge loom as large in the collective imagination as the ancient Library of Alexandria, whose supposed burning has long been recognized as a monumental loss civilization has never fully recovered from. And while it’s true that the famed institution eventually ceased to exist, it wasn’t destroyed in a single conflagration that took much of the world’s ancient wisdom with it. What actually occurred is less dramatic but, in its own way, just as tragic: Both the collection and its influence slowly dwindled over the course of several centuries until whatever was left to burn represented a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of papyrus scrolls once stored there.

No one is sure exactly what happened to the library — which was in fact part of a larger institution devoted to the Muses (goddesses who inspired all arts and knowledge in ancient Greece) known as the Mouseion — though everyone from Julius Caesar to Theophilus I of Alexandria has been blamed for its destruction. The library may be no more, but its legacy persists.

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Myth: Albert Einstein Failed Math

Though it’s often cited as evidence of his humble beginnings, Einstein didn’t actually fail math. “I never failed in mathematics,” Einstein said in 1935 when presented with a Ripley's Believe It or Not! headline claiming he had. “Before I was 15 I had mastered differential and integral calculus.” The anecdote is often retold to inspire the rest of us not to let early setbacks deter us from chasing our dreams and reaching our full potential — a worthy sentiment to be sure, just not one supported by the evidence in this case.

What’s the Real Story of Ben Franklin’s Kite Experiment?

Painting of Ben Franklin by Benjamin West

Author Timothy Ott

August 6, 2025

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It’s one of the most well-known moments in American history: Ben Franklin attaching a key to a kite during a thunderstorm to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. Yet, like a centuries-long game of telephone, the details of the celebrated 1752 experiment have been exaggerated or misinterpreted through countless retellings, creating a popular myth that may be more fiction than fact.

Look no further than the oil-on-canvas work “Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity From the Sky,” painted by Benjamin West in the early 19th century. In the painting, a confident Franklin raises his fist to receive a charge from a key suspended by a kite string, hair and cape billowing around him, as a team of cherubs wrestles with the string and another pair engage with some sort of electrical apparatus in the background.

This work of art encapsulates much of the myth surrounding the famous experiment. The dramatic portrayal clearly isn’t meant to be taken as a historically accurate re-creation, and West took several liberties with his depiction of the event. For one thing, Franklin was actually assisted in this endeavor by his young adult son William, not a team of cherubs. The inventor was also a relatively spry 46 at the time, not yet the wizened elder seen in the painting. And he likely undertook his experiment from the shelter of a shed, as opposed to being exposed to the elements of a thunderstorm.

What’s more, the kite and key story, retold to countless schoolchildren over the past two centuries and often repackaged as Franklin’s “discovery” of electricity, may not have taken place at all. While that’s certainly a more extreme interpretation of what happened, it also underscores the scarcity of verified details about the most famous experiment from one of the most famous figures in American history. So what really happened?

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Franklin’s Theories on Electricity

As told in Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, the titular polymath, then best known as a Philadelphia printer, turned his considerable intellectual gifts toward exploring the little-understood properties of electricity in the 1740s. Conducting an array of experiments with a Leyden jar, a simple capacitor fitted with a cork and wire, Franklin formed what became the single-fluid theory of electricity with his observation of a flow between “positive” and “negative” bodies with an excess or absence of the fluid.

Franklin also became intrigued by the similarities between electrical sparks and lightning, and devised ways in which to demonstrate their shared nature. In a 1749 collection of notes, later relayed in a 1750 letter to Franklin’s London business partner Peter Collinson, Franklin described how such a demonstration could be administered: “On the top of some high tower or steeple, place a kind of sentry-box, big enough to contain a man and an electrical stand. From the middle of the stand, let an iron rod rise and pass bending out of the door, and then upright 20 or 30 feet, pointed very sharp at the end. If the electrical stand be kept clean and dry, a man standing on it when such clouds are passing low, might be electrified and afford sparks, the rod drawing fire to him from a cloud.”

The European scientific community began seriously considering Franklin’s work around this time, particularly after a series of his letters and notes were published in the 1751 pamphlet Experiments and Observations on Electricity. In May 1752, French naturalist Thomas-François Dalibard followed Franklin’s proposed instructions for drawing sparks from a storm cloud, his success inspiring colleagues to produce their own demonstrations that proved the American’s theory that lightning is a form of electrical energy.

The Kite Experiment

Meanwhile, Franklin was impatiently waiting for the steeple of Philadelphia's Christ Church to be completed so he could use its lofty height for his own tests. Apparently unaware of the successes of the "Philadelphia experiments in France, he eventually elected to forgo the steeple and embark on a modified version of his initial plans.

According to contemporary accounts of the event, Franklin and his son William trekked out to a field as a thunderstorm approached in June 1752. They brought a homemade silk kite with a sharp metal wire affixed to the top, a hemp string connected to the bottom, and a metal key attached to the hemp line. Franklin also tied a silk string to the hemp one, surmising that the dry silk would be insulated from the "electric fire" running through the wet hemp line and therefore be safe for holding.

With the kite aloft in the air, Franklin waited for a telltale sign of electrical activity that wasn't apparent until he noticed a few loose threads of the hemp string standing erect. Extending his hand toward the key, he felt the anticipated spark, and held up his trusty Leyden jar to collect more of the charge for later investigations.

Curiously, Franklin provided no immediate documentation of the experience. Even after learning of the French demonstrations sometime that summer, and reprinting a letter about them in a late August 1752 edition of his Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin neglected to mention that he, too, had proved the electrical properties of lightning.

The first public notice of Franklin's efforts came with a letter he wrote to Collinson that October, which was reprinted in the Pennsylvania Gazette that month and later read before the Royal Society of London. The letter describes how a version of the electrical experiments in France "succeeded in Philadelphia," without mentioning that he was the one who pulled it off, and proceeds to list the steps for following through with his modified plan.

The only other contemporary account of Franklin and his kite came with the 1767 publication of scientist Joseph Priestley's The History and Present State of Electricity. Priestley's retelling, derived from his recent personal introduction to Franklin, provides most of the known plot points of the story: that it took place in June 1752, how the charged threads of the string hovered in the air, and even how the inventor was anxious about being ridiculed and as such told no one besides William of his intentions.

Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd/ Alamy Stock Photo

Lingering Questions

Even with the details furnished by Priestley, there remain a few important unresolved questions surrounding this event. For example, we don't know exactly when Franklin sent his kite into the turbulent sky. The date is often cited as June 10, 1752, although other dates in June, and even other months, have been floated. It's also unclear why Franklin himself said so little about the subject, and why his confirmation of the experiment's success failed to place him in the middle of it.

Given the lack of clarity, it was perhaps inevitable that someone would push the theory that it was all a hoax, as suggested by author Tom Tucker with his 2003 book Bolt of Fate. Tucker is in the clear minority in this opinion, however. Other historians have pointed out that Franklin's kite experiment was never disputed at the time, and that he had little reason to lie about his actions after acknowledging that the French beat him to the punch.

Even if the key and kite anecdote can't be proved beyond the existing evidence, there's no arguing that it was Franklin's ideas that opened the pathway to our modern understanding of electricity, and led to the practical — and lifesaving — invention of the lightning rod. In the meantime, the mythical element exemplified by West's painting nicely fills in the holes of a celebrated American origin story, illustrating the ingenuity of one of the cleverest founding fathers.

Was Homer a Real Person?

Greek poet Homer

Author Bess Lovejoy

July 9, 2025

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For centuries, people have pondered one of the most enduring mysteries in literature: Was Homer, the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, a real person? Or is “Homer” simply the name we’ve given to a sprawling oral tradition, shaped and reshaped over time? The short answer is: No one knows for certain. But the long answer — rooted in a rich blend of linguistic clues, ancient traditions, and the remarkable staying power of two epic poems — is far more interesting. Here’s a look at the fascinating history and enduring legacy of Homer.

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The Singular Homer

If Homer was indeed a real person, he likely lived around the eighth or ninth century BCE, possibly in Ionia, a region on the western coast of modern-day Turkey. Many ancient writers depicted him as a blind bard — much like the character Demodocus in the Odyssey — and tradition often claimed he was illiterate and his epic poems were passed down orally. His name first appears in the written record in the seventh century BCE, and several Greek cities, especially those in Ionia, claimed him as a native son.

There is no surviving contemporary biography, but ancient Greeks believed someone named Homer composed — or at least shaped — the Iliad and the Odyssey. These epics, delivered orally in a highly stylized and formulaic language, show what could be signs of a single organizing mind. Repetitive phrases like “rosy-fingered dawn” and “swift-footed Achilles” suggest a poet well versed in the techniques of oral storytelling, using set expressions to maintain rhythm and fluency in performance.

Still, not everyone has been convinced that one poet alone could have composed both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Even in antiquity, scholars noted that the two poems differ in style and subject: One is martial and tragic, the other picaresque and magical. Aristotle famously proposed that the Odyssey was the work of Homer’s old age. Others have suggested that the poems were built up over time by many voices, with Homer serving as the principal architect — or perhaps just the most famous name attached.

Homer as Editor or Compiler

One influential theory proposes that “Homer” wasn’t a single creator, but rather a kind of editor or compiler who shaped a diverse oral tradition into coherent epics. In this view, the Iliad and the Odyssey didn’t spring fully formed from the mind of one poet but were gradually pieced together from centuries of heroic tales.

This theory gained traction in the 20th century thanks to the work of scholars Milman Parry and Albert Lord, who together studied oral poetry in the Balkans. They found that bards working entirely from memory used formulaic language, repeating certain phrases and structures to ease the process of composition. The Homeric poems display similar traits, suggesting they originated in a culture where storytelling was primarily oral and based on memory, rather than manuscripts, to preserve the past.

As such, the figure of Homer might have been more like a master redactor — someone who stitched together countless tales, preserving the core themes of Greek heroism, honor, and human frailty.

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Homer as a Guiding Spirit

There’s another, more poetic interpretation that “Homer” was not a person but a kind of guiding spirit, a symbolic name for the anonymous artistry behind the epics. Like the Muses invoked at the beginning of both poems, Homer may have become a personification of cultural memory.

This idea has its roots in antiquity. As early as the sixth century BCE, there was a group called the Homeridae (“descendants of Homer”), who were thought to preserve and perform the poet’s works. Whether they were literal descendants or merely devoted followers, the name “Homer” had already begun to represent something larger than a single human being.

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A Legacy Beyond Identity

Regardless of whether Homer was a single person, a collective effort, or a convenient fiction, the impact of the Iliad and the Odyssey is undeniable. In ancient Greece, these poems were central to education and civic life, offering models of heroism and moral complexity. Roman poets like Virgil looked to Homer as a master; his influence echoes through the Aeneid. During the Renaissance, Greek scholars brought Homer’s works to Italy, helping to ignite the classical revival. And in modern literature, authors from James Joyce to Derek Walcott have reshaped Homeric themes to fit new cultural contexts.

In a world where authorship is often equated with authority, Homer reminds us that stories sometimes transcend the teller. His works survive not because we can pin them to a single historical figure, but because they capture universal human themes: grief and glory, loyalty and cunning, homecoming and loss. Whether real or imagined, Homer’s legacy endures — not as a name etched in stone, but as a living force in the world’s imagination.

Was Lady Godiva Real?

Lady Godiva painting

Author Tony Dunnell

May 1, 2025

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Britain is a land of countless myths and legends, including King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, and King Canute commanding the tide not to rise. Many of these staples of British folklore mix fact and fiction, blurring actual historical realities and often leaving readers somewhat confused as to which parts are based on truth.

The legend of Lady Godiva is no exception. It’s a compelling tale of noble sacrifice and protest that has captivated the public imagination for centuries. And it’s a tale that blends historical fact with creative embellishment, which has led historians to debate what exactly happened. The most pertinent question, of course, regards our central character, Lady Godiva. Was she real? Did she actually exist? And if she did, did she ride naked through the streets of Coventry? Let’s take a look at this enduring legend and sort the facts from the fiction.

Credit: Apic/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Lady Godiva’s Naked Horseback Ride

According to popular legend, Lady Godiva, an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, was disturbed by the heavy taxation that her powerful husband, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, had imposed on the citizens of Coventry, England. She repeatedly pleaded with him to reduce this burden on the townspeople. After numerous refusals, Leofric finally agreed to lower the taxes but only if his wife accepted what he considered an impossible condition: She would have to ride through the streets of Coventry in the nude.

Lady Godiva called her husband’s bluff and took up his challenge. She issued a proclamation that all citizens must remain indoors with their windows shuttered on the appointed day. She then mounted her horse, naked save for her famously long hair, which covered her body as she rode through the silent streets of Coventry. Impressed by his wife’s bravery and devotion to her people, Leofric kept his promise and abolished the oppressive taxes.

Later versions of the legend introduced another character who has endured to this day, and whose name has become a common expression in the English language: Peeping Tom. Tom, according to folklore, was a tailor who, unlike his fellow townsfolk, couldn’t resist looking at the beautiful Lady Godiva as she rode by his window. For this violation, he was allegedly struck blind instantly — a divine punishment for disrespecting Godiva’s noble sacrifice.

The Real Lady Godiva

So did these events really take place? We can at least say for sure that Lady Godiva was unquestionably real. Her husband, Leofric, appears more often than Godiva in the historical record, and we know a fair amount about his life. He was a powerful earl who was influential in public affairs during the reign of King Canute, and he helped avert a civil war when he mediated between the quarreling Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwin in 1051.

Lady Godiva also appears in historical records, although her name is often written as “Godgifu,” the Old English form of Godiva, meaning “God's gift.” There’s less information about her life than Leofric’s, but we know she was a wealthy Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who lived during the mid-11th century. One of the most reliable pieces of evidence comes from the Domesday Book, William the Conqueror's great land survey of 1086. It lists Godiva as one of the few Anglo-Saxons, and one of the few women, to retain substantial landholdings after the Norman Conquest. This document confirms she held estates across Warwickshire and Leicestershire, including after Leofric’s death in 1057.

Thanks to a number of medieval chronicles, we also know that Leofric and Lady Godiva wielded considerable influence during the reign of Edward the Confessor — an Anglo-Saxon king and saint known for his piety — and that they were known as generous religious benefactors. The couple founded and endowed churches and monasteries, including the Benedictine monastery in Coventry around 1043. Around 1140 (after Godiva’s death sometime between 1066 and 1086), the English monk John of Worcester wrote this about the couple: “[Leofric] and his wife, the noble countess Godgiva, who was a devout worshipper of God, and one who loved the ever-virgin St. Mary, entirely constructed at their own cost the monastery there [in Coventry], well-endowed it with land, and enriched it with ornaments to such an extent, that no monastery could be then found in England possessing so much gold, silver, jewels, and precious stones.”

It’s important to note that none of these historic chronicles mentions any naked horse rides through Coventry. This silence around what would surely have been a remarkable event at the time suggests the legendary ride never happened.

An Enduring Legend

The first known written account of Lady Godiva’s naked ride appears in the chronicle of Roger of Wendover, a monk at St. Albans Abbey. In it, he presents the basic narrative that we’re familiar with today: Godiva’s pleas for tax relief, Leofric’s condition, and her subsequent ride that prompted him to abolish the onerous tax. However, the monk’s account was written sometime between 1215 and 1235, around 150 years after Lady Godiva’s death. The significant time gap between Godiva’s life and the first mention of her legendary ride is enough to raise questions about the story’s historical reliability.

Later accounts, such as that of the chronicler and Benedictine monk Ranulf Higden in the mid-14th century, added more details to the story. It was Higden who told how Leofric, after his wife’s ride, freed the town from all tolls except those on horses. The legend then continued to evolve over subsequent centuries. The character of Peeping Tom, for example, appears remarkably late, first mentioned in the 17th century.

These additions to the narrative show how the legend continued to develop long after Lady Godiva’s death. By the Victorian era, the story had become firmly entrenched in English culture, inspiring renowned paintings such as “Lady Godiva” by John Collier, and the poem “Godiva” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Today, despite the enduring popularity of the Lady Godiva legend, most medieval scholars agree that the naked ride never took place. According to Daniel Donoghue, a Harvard professor and author of Lady Godiva: A Literary History of the Legend, the Benedictine monks at St. Albans developed the colorful narrative centuries after Lady Godiva’s death. As Donoghue put it, “Nobody knows quite why the legend was invented and attached to her name, but it does seem to function as a kind of myth of origin for the town of Coventry.”

Coventry still celebrates its connection to Lady Godiva with statues, annual festivities, and processions, showing its civic pride in a woman who appears to have been a remarkable historical figure. Regardless of whether she made her famous ride, Lady Godiva was a powerful woman whose philanthropic legacy endured even through the upheaval of the Norman Conquest.

Was Uncle Sam a Real Person?

Uncle Sam Army recruitment poster

Author Timothy Ott

March 19, 2025

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Even in an age when our eyes are bombarded with viral photos of cats or two-second clips of celebrities, the image of an elderly, bearded Uncle Sam beseeching us to join him remains an iconic visual for the masses.

Of course, the likeness of Uncle Sam easily predates the internet age, and unlike most currently circulating memes, the character stands for something beyond the brief gratification of a giggle, as the visual representation of the United States government.

But while Uncle Sam is a highly recognizable figure, his origins are lesser known. And while it’s natural to wonder if he was based on one of the Founding Fathers or some other influential figure, the answer to that, like the story of the nation itself, is complicated.

“Brother Jonathan” Predated Uncle Sam

Well before the first appearance of Uncle Sam, the personification of the emerging identity of the American colonies took form in other characters.

Two such personas were women. America (or Amérique) was depicted as a primitive queen of the wild New World as far back as the 16th century. She was followed by Columbia, who was popularized in ode during the Revolutionary War by African American poet Phillis Wheatley, and remained a prominent allegorical symbol of the country until the late 19th century.

By the mid-1700s, the British were lampooning the colonists with the uncultured character of Yankee Doodle, best remembered in the song that endures to this day. But while the tune was intended to mock, the chippy colonists adopted Yankee Doodle for their own purposes, even singing the song in battle to antagonize the Redcoats.

Following the war, a new embodiment of the United States took root in the form of Brother Jonathan, a character supposedly based on the Continental Army-supporting Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull. However, for more than a century, “Jonathan” had also been a derogatory term for people opposed to the British monarchy, and the term may have been applied to the rebellious Patriots.

As with Yankee Doodle, the Americans adopted the term for themselves, transforming an initial insult into a source of national pride. Variously portrayed in verse and on stage as a seaman, peddler, or trader, the feisty Brother Jonathan soon regularly appeared in comic form across American publications, typically clad in a long-tailed coat and striped trousers, and often found tangling with John Bull, the corpulent embodiment of Great Britain.

A Meatpacker Is Credited as the Inspiration for the Symbol

Along with providing plenty of fodder for additional rounds of Brother Jonathan and John Bull illustrations, the War of 1812 provided a business opportunity for an upstate New York resident who fueled the creation myth of Uncle Sam.

In early 1813, a Troy-based meatpacker and brickmaker by the name of Samuel "Uncle Sam" Wilson partnered with a contractor to provide beef and pork to American troops. Wilson's barrels were stamped with "U.S." to signify that they were earmarked for military use. However, the various employees involved in the distribution process joked that the initials stood for Uncle Sam, the nickname of the widely liked meatpacker, and the connection between the moniker and the government spread from there.

This story of Uncle Sam's human origins first appeared in print in 1830, and it was considered canon by the time Congress passed a resolution in 1961 that recognized "'Uncle Sam' Wilson of Troy, New York as the progenitor of America's national symbol of 'Uncle Sam.'"

However, recent research has uncovered use of the term from before Wilson's tenure as a food supplier for the troops. The earliest to date was found in an 1810 journal entry from Navy midshipman Isaac Mayo, who wrote of how "uncle Sam, as they call him, would certainly forever have lost the services of at least one sailor" due to Mayo’s extreme seasickness.

It's still plausible that those involved in Wilson's enterprise were responsible for introducing the term to a broader segment of the population, although it's clear that the concept of Uncle Sam already existed in some capacity before the popular meatpacker.

Credit: Heritage Images/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Cartoonist Thomas Nast Created the Iconic Image of the Character

Whatever his exact origins, Uncle Sam claimed a place in popular culture alongside Brother Jonathan as the 19th century progressed, the two essentially interchangeable as avatars of American interests. However, early versions of Uncle Sam lacked a defined form; he was depicted as both a toddler and an old man, his frame varying from thin to portly, and garb ranging from pajamas to formal wear.

The modern image of the character began solidifying after the Civil War thanks in large part to cartoonist Thomas Nast, who also popularized the contemporary perceptions of Santa Claus as well as the donkey and elephant mascots of America’s dominant political parties. A staunch supporter of Union causes, Nast captured the essence of President Abraham Lincoln by drawing Uncle Sam as a tall, thin, bearded man.

By that point, Uncle Sam had also taken on a more distinct persona as the embodiment of the American government, in contrast with Brother Jonathan’s representation of its industrious citizens. Uncle Sam ultimately eclipsed the older symbol outright before the end of the 19th century, even assuming Jonathan’s standard uniform of striped trousers, long-tailed coat, and top hat.

An Illustrator Used His Own Face for the Famed WWI Recruitment Poster

The final stage of Uncle Sam's evolution came from the drawing pad of James Montgomery Flagg, an American illustrator known for his "Nervy Nat" comic strip and images of curvy pinup girls in the first years of the 20th century.

Tasked with creating the art for a Leslie's Illustrated Weekly cover, Flagg reportedly worked off the "Lord Kitchener Wants You" British military recruitment poster from 1914, substituting Uncle Sam for the British secretary of state for war and using his own face as the model for his character.

Flagg's now-famous depiction of Uncle Sam sternly gazing and pointing at the viewer first appeared on the July 16, 1916, cover of Leslie's, with the heading "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" By the following spring, the first of some 4 million World War I recruitment posters were printed with the Flagg-as-Uncle Sam image, this time above the words "I Want You for U.S. Army."

This was just one of 46 posters created by Flagg for the U.S. war effort, some of which depicted Uncle Sam as a muscular, superhero-type character. However, the initial recruitment poster proved the most enduring, as it was again used to beef up the military for World War II.

It also provided the best-known depiction of Uncle Sam in his modern form: a more mature version of Brother Jonathan, shaped by the backstory of a hard-working entrepreneur, set in the mold of Abraham Lincoln, and polished with the features of his wartime rebrander to stand out as a quintessentially American icon.

Were John Smith and Pocahontas Really in Love?

Disney’s “Pocahontas,” 1995

Author Timothy Ott

November 21, 2024

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Certain origin stories have embedded themselves in the American foundational canon despite — or maybe because of — the degree to which the truth was embellished or outright fabricated. The anecdote of George Washington chopping down a cherry tree was invented by biographer Mason Locke Weems. The midnight ride of Paul Revere to warn of approaching Redcoats was exaggerated by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And the cross-cultural relationship between Pocahontas and Captain John Smith, originally documented with minimal romantic elements by the latter, has been twisted and reformulated enough times that most people have little idea of the true nature of their connection.

Of course, getting to the truth of 400-year-old events is always a little dicey, particularly when the relevant details have largely been passed down by just one person. But that hasn’t stopped historians from drawing conclusions from the available evidence, and we’ll take up the task here to determine whether Smith and Pocahontas were actually engaged in a romance, and why this unlikely love story has endured through the ages.

Credit: Print Collector/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Pocahontas Was an Intermediary Between the Settlers and Her People

First, the agreed-upon facts: Smith arrived in current-day Virginia with the rest of the English settlers at Jamestown in the spring of 1607. Toward the end of the year, the 27-year-old captain was captured by a group of Powhatan people, a confederacy of more than 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes. However, Chief Powhatan, also known as Wahunsenaca, ultimately released Smith to foster trade relations between the Indigenous peoples and the European settlers.

At some point around this time, Smith became acquainted with one of Chief Powhatan’s daughters, a girl of about 11 years old named Amonute, also known by her nickname, Pocahontas. Despite her young age, the smart and spirited girl served as a liaison between the two groups, and Smith recorded her presence at Jamestown in various manuscripts and letters.

Their paths diverged in 1609, when relations deteriorated between the settlers and Indigenous peoples, and Pocahontas was forbidden from visiting the settlement. That fall, Smith returned to London after being injured by an exploding keg of gunpowder.

In 1613, Pocahontas was taken captive by another English captain, Samuel Argall. It’s unknown whether the events that followed were forced upon her or in any way voluntary, but she went on to convert to Christianity, taking the name Rebecca at her baptism, and she married tobacco farmer John Rolfe, with whom she had a son.

In 1616, Pocahontas had a brief reunion with Smith during a visit to England with her husband and a Powhatans delegation. She died from an unspecified illness shortly before her planned return to Virginia.

Smith’s Changing Stories

The first written mention of Pocahontas came in a letter from Smith to a friend, which was published in 1608 as “A True relation of such occurrences and accidents of note, as hath hapned at Virginia.” In the text, Smith describes Chief Powhatan’s daughter as being "not only for feature, countenance, and proportion, much exceedeth any of the rest of his people: but for wit and spirit, the only Nonpariel of his Country." Later, he relays a moment in which Pocahontas, serving as her father's emissary, is entrusted with a group of released Powhatan prisoners.

Smith next wrote of his young acquaintance in the 1612 manuscript A Map of Virginia: With a Description of the Countrey, the Commodities, People, Government and Religion. This text included a collection of Indigenous words and phrases, one of which came with the translation: "Bid Pokahontas bring hither two little Baskets, and I wil give her white beads to make her a chaine."

The former captain’s recollection of events became a little more interesting by the time he published The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles in 1624. This multivolume work features the now-familiar storyline, curiously missing from earlier reports, of how Pocahontas thwarted Smith’s execution. Setting the scene, Smith writes (in the third person) of how his head was about to get smashed against two stones until "Pocahontas the Kings dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death."

The text also includes a letter, supposedly written to England’s Queen Anne in 1616, which describes another moment of Pocahontas intervening to warn Smith of a pending ambush from her father: "The darke night could not affright her from comming through the irkesome woods, and with watered eies gave me intelligence, with her best advice to escape his furie; which had hee knowne, hee had surely slaine her."

Given the author left these events out of earlier chronicles of his life in Virginia, many historians feel that Smith either exaggerated or outright made up the stories as a means of self-promotion. Still, even with the newer details that add to the drama and the depth of his relationship with Pocahontas, Smith’s descriptions fail to convey a clear romance between the two.

Credit: Niday Picture Library/ Alamy Stock Photo

The Romance Blossoms in Popular Culture

Pocahontas was a well-known historical figure in the American colonies by the mid-18th century, but the narrative around her life, her relationship to Smith, and the state of relations between European settlers and the Indigenous tribes they encountered took a turn after the Revolutionary War.

The first major reimagining of the facts came with Englishman John Davis' 1803 book Travels of four years and a half in the United States of America. Although he was ostensibly rehashing a version of the story heard during his trip, Davis unapologetically crossed into the realm of historical fiction by making the heroine a few years older, concocting flowery dialogue, and highlighting passionate feelings between Smith and Pocahontas.

Five years later, the story of Pocahontas, and her rescue of Smith from the brutality of her father's warriors, earned a dramatic retelling on the stage with The Indian Princess; or, La Belle Sauvage, a musical play by American playwright James Nelson Barker.

With denizens of the young country eager to latch on to origin stories to establish a national identity, the romantic ideals introduced in Davis’ book and The Indian Princess quickly caught on. Other plays about the Powhatan maiden accepting her Christian colonizers were released to the public, as were numerous paintings depicting Pocahontas getting married, being baptized, or, of course, saving Smith from getting pummeled to death.

Although the love story between Smith and Pocahontas didn't feature in every creative work at the time — she was, after all, married to someone else — it became a popular focal point for artists and writers alike. Thanks to plays such as John Brougham's popular 1855 musical Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage, and books such as David Garnett’s 1933 historical novel Pocahontas or The Nonpareil of Virginia, the romantic entanglement was embedded in popular culture by the time Disney delivered its take with the animated feature film Pocahontas in 1995.

The Truth Emerges but the Narrative Remains

While Disney’s Pocahontas drew some criticism for perpetuating stereotypes about Native Americans and European settlers, it also ignited a new round of research into the well-worn story. Among the surprises that emerged was a published version of Pocahontas’ life from the oral tradition of the Mattaponi Tribe, replete with details that both complement and contradict the better-known accounts of Smith and his contemporaries.

Nowadays, historians generally believe that there was a friendship, or at least some form of mutual appreciation, between the English captain and the bright, lively girl who served as an intermediary and translator between two cultures. However, it's highly unlikely there was a romance, considering both the lack of evidence for its existence and the age gap between the two. Nevertheless, the prevailing narrative of their relationship endures to this day, and given the power of a compelling love story — fiction or otherwise — it may continue to do so for another 400 years.

Did Pilgrims Really Wear Buckled Hats?

Pilgrims walking down path

Author Nicole Villeneuve

November 14, 2024

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When the Pilgrims began their 66-day journey aboard the Mayflower in 1620, they weren’t wearing the buckled hats and black suits and dresses they’re known for today. Sailing from Plymouth, England, to their settlement near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the Saints, as they called themselves (the term “Pilgrim” didn’t originate until the early 1800s), actually wore clothing more tailored to their arduous voyage.

Common men’s garments included wool stockings, billowy knee-length pants known as breeches, and close-fitting jackets known as doublets. Women, meanwhile, wore waistcoats, long skirts known as petticoats, and a linen hair covering called a coif. Clothing was mostly made from durable wool and linen and was often layered to protect against the cold New England winter climate.

Both men and women wore leather latchet shoes, and both, though primarily the men, also wore tall, wide-brimmed hats with a flat top — a particularly identifiable piece of the Pilgrim wardrobe that has become practically synonymous with colonial America. The truth is, however, that neither the shoes nor hats featured the overstated buckles we associate with Pilgrim attire. Shoes were fastened with a leather strap or laces, and hats were generally unadorned.

Credit: DEA / A. DAGLI ORTI/ De Agostini via Getty Images

As for the dark-colored clothing, Pilgrims did wear black occasionally, especially on Sundays, but it was not part of the daily uniform. In fact, black dye was expensive and difficult to obtain and use, so dark clothing was primarily reserved for upper classes or very special occasions, such as portrait sittings. The 1651 painting of Plymouth Colony Governor Edward Winslow is believed to be the only portrait of a Pilgrim made from life; in it, he wears a black doublet and white collar and cuffs, feeding into the misconception that this is how Pilgrims usually dressed. In reality, it was a formal outfit for a rare event. Pilgrims actually wore quite colorful clothing in their daily lives. According to documents such as personal wills and cargo inventories from the Mayflower, everyday clothing was made in colors such as red, blue, purple, and green, all derived from plant-based dyes that were much more attainable to many families.

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