animal rights

The Vegetarian Crusade: An American Reform Movement

September 2, 2015 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Adam Shprintzen, Assistant Professor of History at Marywood University and author of The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921 (University of North Carolina Press, 2013), takes us on a journey through the origins of vegetarianism and the Vegetarian reform movement in the United States. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/044

Early Animal Rights: The Hats For Horses Crusade

July 8, 2013 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

If you like horses (and who doesn’t?) and some funny grammatical errors, check out these two sentence segments from regional newspapers. From 1927: “Mounted on his favorite and favored horse wearing a white broad-brimmed hat … ; and from 1980: “Fans hurled confetti at third baseman George Brett, who was atop a horse wearing a grey cowboy hat.” Both excerpts contain misplaced modifiers: it’s a pretty safe bet that neither horse was wearing a hat.

But as silly as it sounds, it’s an idea that was actually once in vogue. About a century ago, many of northern New York’s horses were sporting the latest craze―hats for horses.

In parts of Europe and the West Indies, it had long been a practice for operators of hacks―horse-drawn taxis, carriages, and the like―to bedeck their horses with hats, which minimized the wearing effects of the hot sun during long days of strolling the streets. [Read more…] about Early Animal Rights: The Hats For Horses Crusade