In another week of unexpected history, Theresa kicks things off with a story from Brazil. Meet Antonio Conselheiro, a man crushed by life who turns to following God. He wanders the back country of Brazil, preaching the Good News and fixing churches. He ends up building a community with recently freed Black people who have nowhere else to turn. 

Because no good deed goes unpunished, farmers who lost their laborers raise an army, and history does its thing. 

Angie, shocked by this tale, pivots sharply and takes us into the Gilded Age by telling us the story of Mamie Fish. This socialite surprised and delighted the upper crust with her antics. Come for her elaborate dinner parties. Stay for the monkey dressed as a prince. 

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Each week, we come up with some absolutely bonkers stories, and this week is no different. 

Angie shares how Holland dealt with an unpopular Grand Pensionary (think prime minister). Johan de Witt sparked such anger among the crowd that on August 20, 1672, they tore him apart and ate his remains. 

Theresa gingerly side-steps the cannibalism and shares how Cherokee Chief Sequoyah fell in love with the concept of written language and created the first written version of a Native American language. The Cherokee Syllabary remains in use to this day.