Hi! As my first post, I wanted to explain what exactly this blog is about. Dissed By History is going to be a blog all about the people who have shaped history, but who have been forgotten by it. As a high school student who took AP U.S. History this past year, I was required to participate in National History Day. I’m a huge American Revolutionary War/Colonial America Era nerd, so I knew that I wanted to research someone who left a huge impact on that time period. And I wanted that person to be someone that no one’s learned about.

It was through the early stages of my research that I came across the name John Laurens. Now, if you’re like me, you never had a Hamilton: An American Musical phase in 2015, so I had never heard of John Laurens before I began my research (I have since listened to Hamilton and send a big thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda for writing a musical about history and for teaching people about so many important people and events). After having asked my friends, family, and even my favorite history teacher, and learned that no one knew who John Laurens was, I decided he was the perfect topic for my NHD project.

I spent months researching, writing a script, gathering props, and sewing my own costume for my performance piece on John Laurens, so I was extremely disappointed when COVID-19 struck and I was unable to fully present my project at states. However, after a few days of being upset and discouraged, I was inspired by Laurens’ perseverance and resilience, and decided to make a blog where I could not only share his story, but the stories of so many others who have shaped the United States, but who have become forgotten by history.

As often as possible, I will be researching people I find interesting and making a short blog post about their life and accomplishments. I’ll make sure to include a works cited page with links, so feel free to use them and continue your own research. If you have any suggestions of people I should research and write about next, be sure to comment.

Hope all you history-lovers enjoy!!