Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Boiled wool is a type of fabric primarily used in creating berets, scarves, vests, cardigans, coats, and jackets. To create this fabric, knit wool or wool-blend fabrics are agitated with hot water in a process called fulling. This process shrinks the fabric and results in a dense felted fabric that resists fraying and further shrinkage.[1]
Boiled wool is a type of felted wool, and is similar to non-woven wool felt. These processes date at least as far back as the Middle Ages. The word felt itself comes from West Germanic feltaz.[2] Boiled/felted wool is characteristic of the traditional textiles of South America and Tyrolean Austria. It is produced industrially around the world.
Boiled wool fabric is created commercially by first knitting wool yarns to create a fabric of uniform thickness. The yarns and fabric may either be dyed or left natural, and the fabric may include designs or embellishments. After knitting, the fabric is fulled by boiling and agitating in hot water and an alkaline solution like soap. The agitation causes the scaly surface of wool fibers to stick together, producing a felted fabric. The result is a tighter and denser material that is up to 50% smaller in all directions than the pre-felted fabric.[3] Boiled wool is warm, durable, and resistant to water and wind.[1]
The general process of felting can be used to process non-woven fibers into pieces of felt used in industry, medical applications, and for crafts and costumes. This can be performed using a variety of fibers, including wool blends, rayon, polyester, and acrylic.
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Boiled wool is a type of fabric primarily used in creating berets, scarves, vests, cardigans, coats, and jackets. To create this fabric, knit wool or wool-blend fabrics are agitated with hot water in a process called fulling. This process shrinks the fabric and results in a dense felted fabric that resists fraying and further shrinkage.
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal wool. Wool is an animal fiber and consists of protein together with a small percentage of lipids. This makes it chemically quite distinct from cotton and other plant fibers, which are mainly cellulose, and akin to silk, another animal fiber composed primarily of protein. Most wool used by the textile industry comes from sheep. Wool is also obtained from goats, camelids, rabbits, and several other mammals, although the names used for these fibres vary between industries and legal systems. After collection, wool is sorted and cleaned before it is carded or combed and made into yarn, felt, insulation, fertilizer, or other products.
The International Wool Secretariat (IWS) was formed in 1937 to promote the sale of wool on behalf of woolgrowers and review research carried out by independent bodies such as the Wool Industries' Research Association at Torridon, Headingley Lane, Leeds, England. IWS was formed by the Wool Boards of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and funded by levies on wool grown in those countries. Uruguay joined IWS in 1970. The IWS was the overseas extension of the Australian Wool Corporation and eventually was merged into it. In 1997, IWS changed its name to The Woolmark Company. Since 2007, the Woolmark Company has been a subsidiary of Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI), a nonprofit organization that conducts research, development and marketing along the global supply chain for Australian wool on behalf of approximately 60,000 woolgrowers that cooperatively fund the company.
Fulling, also known as tucking or walking (Scots: waukin, hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate (lanolin) oils, dirt, and other impurities, and to make it shrink by friction and pressure. The work delivers a smooth, tightly finished fabric that is insulating and water-repellent. Well-known examples are duffel cloth, first produced in Flanders in the 14th century, and loden, produced in Austria from the 16th century on. Waulking could be done with the hands and feet. In medieval Europe, it was done in water-powered fulling mills. After the Industrial Revolution, coal and electric power were used. Felting refers more generally to the interlocking of loose wool fibers; they need not be spun and woven first.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker