1. [The American] will live 50 years instead of 35 as at present—for he will reside in the suburbs. The city house will practically be no more. Building in blocks will be illegal. The trip from suburban home to office will require a few minutes only. A penny will pay the fare.

True. In the 20th century, transportation and sanitation advances led to the rise of developments around cities. Streetcars, trains, and, later, highways made it possible for workers to commute to urban centers for work and to travel outside of the city for their home life. Suburb development grew exponentially after World War II with the rapid spread of mass-produced housing such as Levittown.

2. Fleets of air-ships, hiding themselves with dense, smoky mists, thrown off by themselves as they move, will float over cities, fortifications, camps or fleets. They will surprise foes below by hurling upon them deadly thunderbolts. These aerial war-ships will necessitate bomb-proof forts, protected by great steel plates over their tops as well as at their sides.

True. Several aspects of this prediction came true, including the move to aircraft as a central defensive and offensive weapon. Later in the 20th century, the U.S. government spent significant resources on the research and development of a national missile defense system under the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), established in 1984.

3. Persons and things of all kinds will be brought within focus of cameras connected electrically with screens at opposite ends of circuits, thousands of miles at a span. American audiences in their theatres will view upon huge curtains before them the coronations of kings in Europe or the progress of battles in the Orient although they will not hear the crowds cheer or the guns of a distant battle as they boom.

False. In its actual form, this prediction foresaw the ability to see "live" events across the globe and also predicted the ability to hear events as they happened: "The instrument bringing these distant scenes to the very doors of people will be connected with a giant telephone apparatus transmitting each incidental sound in its appropriate place. Thus the guns of a distant battle will be heard to boom when seen to blaze, and thus the lips of a remote actor or singer will be heard to utter words or music when seen to move".

4. The owner of a [flying] machine, or even the man who did not own one, by patronizing the express lines, could live 50 miles away and yet do business in the city day by day, going by air line to his home each night.

False. Theodore Waters of the New York Herald actually predicted that workers could easily commute 500 miles to work each day, flying home each night, a further visualization of transportation innovation as well as of the relationship between work and home as the notion of suburbs emerged.

5. Coal will not be used for heating or cooking. It will be scarce, but not entirely exhausted. The earth's hard coal will last until the year 2050 or 2100; its soft-coal mines until 2200 or 2300. Meanwhile both kinds of coal will have become more and more expensive. Man will have found electricity manufactured by waterpower to be much cheaper.

True. Well into the 1800s, Americans met their needs by harvesting energy and materials from plants, animals, rivers, and wind. By the 1830s, though, large-scale coal extraction had begun in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and beyond. By the 1910s, more than 750,000 coal miners dug and blasted upwards of 550 million tons of coal a year. Fossil fuels changed daily life in America, from travel to shopping, daily life to leisure. America's industrial ascendancy, however, caused problems for humans and the environment and in 2009, the threat of diminishing supplies is a serious concern.

6. Ready-cooked meals will be bought from establishments similar to our bakeries of today. They will purchase materials in tremendous wholesale quantities and sell the cooked foods at a price much lower than the cost of individual cooking. Food will be served hot or cold to private houses in pneumatic tubes or automobile wagons. The meal being over, the dishes used will be packed and returned to the cooking establishments where they will be washed.

True. In the early 20th century, new household technology was both accomplished and inspired by the tremendous increase in American industrial production. As in industry, mechanization and scientific management were part of a larger reorganization of work. And as in industry, efficient housekeeping was partially a response to labor unrest—both the "servant problem" and the growing disquiet of middle-class wives. A major proponent of the new housekeeping, Christine Frederick published books, articles, and pamphlets on scientific management in the home with a focus on greater efficiency, from cooking to washing dishes. This plan, in some ways predictive of the late 20th-century shift to pre-cooked meals in stores and restaurants, likely drew on this emerging ideology.

7. The living body will to all medical purposes be transparent. Not only will it be possible for a physician to actually see a living, throbbing heart inside the chest, but he will be able to magnify and photograph any part of it.

True. X-rays were first identified in the late 19th century, but were not widely used for medical research and treatment in 1900 when this prediction was written. Since 2005, X-rays were listed as a carcinogenic by the U.S. government. The author likely would not have envisioned the 21st-century field of endoscopy that allows medical professionals to see and photograph many parts of the body through a small tube.

1. Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran). Investigative undercover reporter for the New York World and globe traveler. Lived 1864-1922.

2. Annie Smith Peck. Amateur American archeologist of Greek antiquities, and world's most famous mountaineer. Scaled Mt. Shasta, the Matterhorn, Popocatépetl, Orizaba, and Huascarán, among others. Lived 1850-1935.

3. Marguerite Harrison. Reporter for the Baltimore Sun and spy in revolutionary Russia. First foreign woman to be held by Bolshevists in the Lubyanka prison. Explorer and cinematographer in China and among the Bakhtiari in Central Asia. Lived 1879-1957.

4. Annie Edson Taylor. Unemployed schoolteacher who, at age 63, was the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, on October 24, 1901. Lived 1838-1931.

5. Mabel Stark (Mary Haynie). Daughter of Kentucky farmers. Joined the circus and, during the 1920s, became the world's most famous and skilled tiger and lion trainer, working with up to 18 cats at once. Lived 1889-1968.

6. Sonora Webster Carver. As a teenager in 1923, the first woman performer to dive on horseback 40 feet down into a deep pool of water at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. Regularly performed the stunt for two decades, even after being blinded in 1931 during a dive. Lived 1904-2003.

7. Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick. In 1908, at age 15, became the first woman to use a parachute (from a hot air balloon), then in 1913, the first woman to make a jump from an aircraft. Trial tested parachute designs for the U.S. Army, and in 1914 made the first free fall parachute jump. Made over 1,100 jumps. Lived 1893-1978.

1.
1941: Pan American Airways began in 1927 with a single engine aircraft and a single route between Key West and Havana. By 1941, the airline flew to 55 different countries, between North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Airline ads in the late 1930s advertised air travel similar to train travel, with sleeping berths and dining cars. When the U.S. entered World War II, the world’s only aircraft that could carry payloads across an ocean were nine Pan Am Boeing 314 flying Clippers, and three that Pan Am had sold to Britain. The U.S. government took over all of Pan Am’s over-ocean aircraft, crews, and operations. Pan American airplanes were used in overt operations by the War Department, and in 1942, 1,445 war planes were delivered to the British army. [1]

2.
1938: Hormel developed canned ham in 1926, and eleven years later produced the first canned meat product that did not require refrigeration, a distinctive chopped ham and pork shoulder mixture, marketed as “spiced ham.” A major advertising campaign started in mid-1937, promoting the product as “miracle meat” and “anytime meat.” SPAM proved effective for the military and because it wasn’t rationed like beef was, it became a major staple for American families during the war. [2]

3.
1956: While passenger service on the Union Pacific Railroad started in 1866, early accommodations were rough and often uncomfortable. The 1890 Overland Limited, a luxury train, ran between Omaha and San Francisco, and by 1921, passenger revenues reached an all-time high. As the Twenties progressed, the automobile became more accessible and necessary, and Union Pacific took some drastic marketing steps to increase business. Luxurious Steamliner passenger trains began operating in the 1930s with opulent furnishings, impeccable service, and total comfort, developing over the next decades with sleeping cars, coaches, diners and lounges, dome coaches, and dome diners, unique to Union Pacific. [3]

4.
1959: Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton produced the syrup for Coca Cola in Atlanta in 1886. Marketing for the drink began immediately with coupons and souvenir fans, calendars, clocks, urns, and other novelties depicting the trademark. Coca Cola’s first advertisement appeared in 1895, featuring Boston actress Hilda Clark. By World War II, Coke was bottled in 44 countries on both sides of the conflict. From the mid-1940s through 1960, the number of countries with bottling operations nearly doubled. In 1955, the company introduced varying sizes of bottles. Metal cans were not available until after 1960. Campaign slogans include the 1929 “Pause that Refreshes,” “It’s the Refreshing Thing to Do” in 1936, and 1944’s “Global High Sign.” The 1950s produced “Sign of Good Taste,” “Be Really Refreshed,” and “Go Better Refreshed.” [3]

5.
1969: Panasonic was founded in 1918, selling duplex lamp sockets in Japan, expanding rapidly to other areas. By 1961 the company began producing televisions for an American market. In 1962, television started transmitting via satellite, allowing for real-time images changing the industry. In the mid-1960s, television manufacturers competed to make the smallest set.

6.
1932: Parents started giving children pacifiers around 1800. Concern for the way thumbsucking and other such activities impacted physical and social development prompted adults to use such contraptions as the Baby Alice Thumb Guard.

1. The 54th, led by Robert Gould Shaw, son of prominent (white) abolitionists, consisted largely of former slaves. False.

Glory leads viewers to believe that most (though not all) of the men who served under Shaw (pictured here) were former slaves. Although this conceit adds to the impact of the film—making the 54th's struggle for recognition and an equal place in the war a mirror of the general African American struggle for freedom and equality—it veers far from historical fact. Most of the men who volunteered for the 54th were born freemen from middle-class backgrounds. In fact, two soldiers in the 54th were sons of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

2. The unsuccessful but heroic attack on Fort Wagner, SC, in which the Confederates killed or captured approximately 50% of the regiment, was the last battle in which the 54th served. False.

Glory ends with the 54th's attack on Fort Wagner, and the losses its men suffered. This gives the impression that the regiment dissolved after the Fort Wagner assault. In reality, the 54th went on to fight in several more battles and skirmishes, including the Battle of Olustee (in Florida) the Battle of Honey Hill (in South Carolina), and the Battle of Boykin's Mill (also in South Carolina).

3. The bravery of the 54th at Fort Wagner inspired Congress to authorize raising other African American troops for the Union army. False.

The ending caption in Glory—"As word of their bravery spread, Congress at last authorized the raising of black troops throughout the Union"—is inaccurate. According to historian James M. McPherson, Congress had authorized the mustering of further African American troops "months earlier."

Further, though it might be easy to believe otherwise while watching the film, the 54th was not the first African American regiment—the U.S. government began enlisting African Americans as early as 1862, almost a year before the 54th's formation in March 1863.

4. A member of the regiment was flogged for desertion, in keeping with standard military punishments at the time. False.

One of the most often described moments in the film, when former slave Trip reveals his scarred back before receiving a flogging for desertion, is unlikely to have ever happened in life. Leaving aside the character's fictional nature (like many of Glory's characters, except Shaw, Trip was created for the film), a soldier would not have been flogged as punishment in 1863—according to historian Joseph T. Glatthar, flogging was outlawed in the U.S. military in 1861.

1. This was a popular Civil War song sung by Union and Confederate soldiers. Regimental bands typically ended evening camp concerts by playing this song and bands of opposing armies sometimes performed the song together across battle lines:

Home Sweet Home. John Howard Payne, a traveling actor who wrote the lyrics, lived his entire life in hotel rooms and boarding houses, never having an actual home.

2. After battle, while preparing casualties from the opposing army for burial, a captain discovered his own son among the dead soldiers. On his son’s body, he found the music for this song written on a scrap of paper:

Taps. Captain Robert Ellicombe asked his company bugler to play the music at his son's burial. The next day, Division Commander Gen. Daniel Butterfield, asked his bugler, Oliver Morton, to arrange the piece for a new bugle call, which was soon played throughout the entire Union Army.

3. The melody to this song was originally a popular drinking tune:

Star Spangled Banner. John Stafford Smith composed the melody for a London social club in the late 1700s, and the music was used for a religious hymn and later for a popular drinking song in London and America.

4. Originally a religious song, this music, with new lyrics, became a famous marching song:

Battle Hymn of the Republic. Southerner William Steffe composed the music for a religious hymn, and Union soldiers marched to the song, singing the words of "John Brown's Body." When Julia Ward Howe saw troops marching to the tune, she was so inspired by its pageantry that the words to "Battle Hymn" came to her in the middle of the night.

5. A man from Ohio wrote this song while sitting in a New York City hotel room:

Dixie. Northerner Dan D. Emett did not write the song with personal memories of old cotton fields back home. The song became a popular tune before the Civil War, and Confederate soldiers soon adopted it as their own. Ironically, the song was a favorite of Abraham Lincoln.

6. The author of this song never witnessed a battle or a baseball game before writing this piece:

Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Albert von Tilzer performed this song on vaudeville stages twenty years before he actually saw his first baseball game.