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TIL of the Donner Party who were a group of pioneers including women and children who had to resort to cannibalism after an early snowfall cut off their destination, just one mountain pass over. (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

AFAIK everyone in the US learns about this as part of their middle school curriculum.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Ah okay, IANAA - it was new to me

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

How is it taught out of interest? I feel like there are many lessons to learn from it, though mostly that none of us are above our baser nature when the situation is dire

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

We're talking about maybe a day of my life over 20 years ago lol. I remember it being taught that it happened, but I honestly don't remember if they emphasized how desperate for survival they were. I think it's easy for some Americans to associate "Donner Party" with "crazy man-eating lunatic cult of the wild west" due to only retaining surface-level information on the topic.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Usually when they cover western expansion. However, U.S. history taught in school is mostly propoganda.