MLK, Lewis and Clark, and Inside the Great Pyramid

The life of Dr. King

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and the founding president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1957 until his assassination in 1968. In that role, he became the leading public strategist of the American Civil Rights movement, helping coordinate nonviolent campaigns that secured major political, legal, and social victories.
 

Those efforts dismantled central pillars of the Jim Crow legal system of segregation that had shaped the American South since the end of Reconstruction in 1877. Dr. King is best known for his philosophy of nonviolence, which he treated as a disciplined method for confronting injustice. Grounded in Christianity and shaped by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he argued that nonviolent direct action could shift public opinion and force political change.
 

In his final years, Dr. King broadened his focus to economic justice and opposition to the Vietnam War, positions that cost him political support. He was assassinated in 1968, sparking widespread unrest and contributing to the fragmentation of the Civil Rights movement. In 1983, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a federal holiday in the US by law and is observed on the third Monday in January, falling on or near his birthday.

... Read what else we learned about MLK here.

Also, check out ... 

> Hear the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. (Listen)

> ... the most famous lines of which were improvised. (Watch)

> The FBI ran a covert campaign to discredit Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Read)

>  He survived a near-fatal assassination attempt in 1958. (Read)

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What did Lewis and Clark do?

The Lewis and Clark expedition was the first official US-sponsored land survey to reach the Pacific overland, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson after the Louisiana Purchase expanded US land to include the region from the Mississippi to the Rockies. The journey aimed to map the new territory, discover a navigable water route (with portages) from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and establish diplomatic and trade ties with Native tribes.
 

Lasting from May 1804 to September 1806 (see timeline), the journey was headed by Jefferson’s personal secretary and Army officer Meriwether Lewis and experienced frontiersman William Clark alongside 31 other members of the so-called Corps of Discovery. Starting from St. Louis in May 1804, the group covered 8,000 miles in two years, returning east by late 1806.
 

The expedition cataloged 240 plant species (178 of which were new to western science), including the future state flowers of Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, and described 122 new animal species, including the grizzly bear and prairie dog. Lewis and Clark’s mapping and climate observations provided the first detailed geographic and meteorological records of the Western territories.

... Read our full explainer on the expedition here.

Also, check out ... 

> Track their journey with this interactive map on Google Earth. (Explore)

> The pair joined the centuries-long hunt for a Northwest Passage connecting Europe to Asia. (Watch)

> Sacagawea helped translate from Shoshone to English during the expedition. (Watch)

> William Clark negotiated one-tenth of all ratified treaties between Native Americans and the US. (Read)

What's the impact of the oil markets?

Oil markets are a complex global system of producing, distributing, trading, and pricing petroleum products used to make diesel, jet fuel, solvents, and more. For investors, the system of trading oil contracts offers financial access to the industry without actually having to take possession of any barrels. Traders buy and sell financial contracts, betting on future price changes of the commodity based on fluctuations in supply and demand.

These complicated and expensive investments aren’t realistic for most retail investors. Instead, these investors can gain exposure to oil markets by putting money into exchange-traded funds focused on the energy sector, or by buying oil company stocks. Oil can help diversify a portfolio beyond more traditional investments such as stocks and bonds, often acting as a hedge against inflation due to rising energy costs.

Predicting oil prices is a complicated business, as they’re sensitive to geopolitical events. For instance, in 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted the market, with oil prices spiking significantly.

... Read our full write-up on oil markets here.

Also, check out ... 

> Oil has historically played a pivotal role in politics and imperial strategies. (Listen)

> The US is the world's top producer of oil. (View)

> Crude oil is used to create fuel like gasoline, heating oil, and more. (Read)
> The number of annual oil spills has dropped dramatically since the 1970s. (View)

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Best of the Week

We added 453 resources this week to our knowledge collective—here are some of our favorites.

Mapping the trends of American smartphone and internet use.

The 20 richest people in the world.

The geopolitical conflicts to watch in 2026.

Most commercial planes are struck by lightning multiple times a year.

How widespread is the flu right now?

What it's like to go inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. 

Visualize cuts to the federal workforce last year.

Learn about the history of the Monroe Doctrine.

After a previous boom, nonfiction book sales are experiencing a decline.

How to pull yourself out of negative thinking spirals.

Explaining American federalism through a case of adultery and poisoning.

A delightful collection of handy music facts.

Explore the complexity of New York City’s underground systems.

City folks are learning to coexist with coyotes.

Examining the current cultural obsession with "cringe." 

Introducing: 1440 Health & Medicine

Historybook: President John Tyler dies (1862); Actor Cary Grant born (1904); WWI Paris Peace Conference begins (1919); Author Rudyard Kipling dies (1936); Willie O’Ree becomes the first Black player in the National Hockey League (1958).