1

Sliced bread

Image: Laura Ockel

Not even the best of inventions are safe from odd bans. In 1943, the U.S. government temporarily banned pre-sliced bread as part of wartime resource conservation .

Thankfully, the ban only lasted a few months. Housewives, bakeries, and even newspapers complained, arguing that sliced bread was a necessity. The ban was lifted quickly due to public backlash.

2

Pinball machines

Image: Louie Castro-Garcia

Believe it or not, from the 1940s until the mid-1970s, pinball machines were outlawed in several major cities, including New York and Chicago. Officials claimed the machines promoted gambling and corruption .

Machines were confiscated and destroyed. The ban finally ended when it was proven that pinball was more skill-based than luck, leading to its revival as a popular arcade game.

3

Yo-Yos

Image: Eric Prouzet

During the 1930s, some U.S. towns banned yo-yos, believing they caused bad luck and distracted children from schoolwork . The fad was seen as both frivolous and superstitious.

Though short-lived, the bans show how something as harmless as a toy could spark moral panic and strange local laws.

4

Christmas

Image: Erwan Hesry

In the 1600s, the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony banned Christmas , claiming it was rooted in pagan traditions and encouraged rowdy behavior .

Anyone caught celebrating risked punishment or fines. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that Christmas gained widespread acceptance in the U.S.

5

Dancing after midnight

Image: Scott Broome

At different occasions during the 20th century, some cities enforced laws that restricted or outright banned late-night dancing . New York City’s "Cabaret Law" limited dancing to licensed venues only.

Authorities argued it was about maintaining order, but many saw it as cultural repression. By the 1990s, these laws faced strong opposition, and most have since been repealed, allowing nightlife to thrive.

6

Comic books

Image: Waldemar

Comic books have been a scapegoat for different things in different periods. For example, in the 1950s, they came under fire, accused of corrupting America’s youth . Parents, educators, and politicians believed violent and horror-themed comics encouraged delinquency.

Entire towns banned sales, and even public book burnings took place in different corners of the country.

7

Yellow margarine

Image: Marine Le Gac

Being a substitute for butter, margarine was heavily lobbied against by dairy farmers in the late 1800s. Several states passed laws banning margarine dyed yellow to resemble butter .

As a result, margarine was sold plain white, or consumers had to mix in dye packets themselves. These odd restrictions lasted well into the mid-1900s before finally being repealed.

8

Men’s long hair

Image: Siri louis

During the 1960s and 70s, schools across the U.S. cracked down on boys with long hair . Beatles-inspired styles were viewed as rebellious, unclean, and disruptive.

Some students were suspended or expelled over hair length. These policies reflected the cultural clashes of the era.

9

Left-handed writing

Image: Anna Savina

For much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, left-handed students were forced to switch hands . Teachers tied their left arms or punished them until they wrote with their right hand.

This practice was based on superstition and prejudice, with left-handedness considered "wrong" or even sinister.

10

Bathing suits above the knee

Image: Brett Jordan

In the early 1900s, strict laws dictated swimwear modesty at public beaches . Bathing suits that rose above the knee could result in fines or even arrest by "beach police."

Photographs from the time show officers measuring swimsuit lengths with rulers. The bans slowly disappeared as fashion and social norms shifted.

11

Coffee

Image: Jakub Dziubak

In the late 1600s, in Boston, coffee was briefly banned for being considered dangerous and unproductive . Authorities feared it encouraged idleness and vagrancy.

Coffeehouses were seen as gathering places for gossip and dissent. The ban didn’t last long, and coffee soon became a staple of American culture, eventually surpassing tea in popularity.

12

Velvet Elvis paintings

Image: Susan Mohr

In the 1970s and 80s, velvet Elvis paintings became a kitschy art craze. Some towns, embarrassed by the trend, tried banning their sale, calling them indecent or tacky .

Though the bans were rarely enforced, they reflected how taste and morality sometimes crossed into law.

1

Gold Rush myths bubbled up immediately

Image: Tomáš Malík

It didn’t take long for the truth to get buried. As soon as gold was discovered, the stories started to shimmer. Tales of instant wealth, golden boulders, and rivers gleaming with nuggets.

Letters home were often exaggerated, and newspapers sensationalized every find. These myths fueled the frenzy and caused proverbial FOMO all over the world. People wanted to see it for themselves.

2

The best Western business wasn’t in fact gold

Image: Stefan Münz

If you wanted to get rich during the gold rush, you had better chances opening a store than mining. That was the golden rule for smart entrepreneurs like Levi Strauss, who didn’t strike it rich in a streambed, but in a sewing room. Another legend, Samuel Brannan, made a fortune selling picks, pans, and shovels —not gold.

3

The "49ers" were actually latecomers

Image: Emilie

The famed "49ers," the nickname for those swept up in the gold frenzy in 1849, weren’t the first on the scene. There’s a plot twist. Gold was discovered in January 1848 at Sutter’s Mill.

But the news spread slowly . By the time the world caught on, most of the easily accessible gold had already been plucked from riverbeds by locals, soldiers, and early arrivals.

4

Thousands came from China and South America

Image: rc.xyz NFT gallery

The Gold Rush was a global stampede . Tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants crossed the Pacific, some bringing generations of mining knowledge with them. Others came from Chile, Peru, and Mexico, arriving in San Francisco to find opportunity.

5

Women were there not just as camp followers

Image: Michael & Diane Weidner

Women were there too, not just as wives, but as businesswomen, cooks, hoteliers, and even miners. Take Luzena Wilson, a widow who hauled her children west and set up a boarding house for miners. Her clean beds and hot meals turned into a booming business.

Others ran laundries, tended bar, or staked their own claims. In a lawless land where survival meant creativity, many women found fortune in hard work.

6

Some came from Hawaii, Russia, and Europe

Image: Trey Hollins

They called them " Argonauts ," a romantic nod to the Greek myth of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. And like the legend, the real Gold Rush was international. Adventurers came not just from the American East, but from as far as Russia’s Pacific coast, the Hawaiian Islands, and every corner of Europe.

7

Gold Rush towns became ghost towns

Image: Stefan Münz

Take Bodie, for example. A lawless hotspot where saloons outnumbered schools. At its peak, it had over 10,000 residents. A few decades later, it was all tumbleweeds and creaky wood .

Once the gold ran out, so did the people. Tools were abandoned and whole towns vanished almost overnight, leaving behind eerie remnants.

8

The "Gold Fever" spread worldwide

Image: suradeach saetang

Once word of gold reached distant shores, "gold fever" spread around the world . Australia had its own rush by 1851. The Klondike in Canada followed in the 1890s, and South Africa’s rich deposits turned Johannesburg into a boomtown in the 1880s.

Prospectors chased hope, not just gold. Each new report of found gold sparked a fresh migration, with fortune-seekers packing up and heading to the hot spots.

9

Gold mining required team effort

Image: Elena Mozhvilo

Forget the image of the lone prospector whistling by the river . That only worked for a short time.

As surface gold dried up, miners turned to hard labor, which involved blasting rock, diverting rivers, and eventually using powerful water cannons in a process called hydraulic mining. It was expensive. Teams of men pooled resources, hired help, and invested in equipment.

10

Many "Gold Seekers" never even made it to California

Image: James Lee

Getting to California in the 1840s was no stroll through the prairie. Hundreds of the hopefuls who set out never arrived. Some perished on the overland trails due to disease, accidents, or exhaustion.

The sea route around Cape Horn was no solution; it was just longer and colder. Some turned back. Others settled in Oregon or Utah. A few found fortune far from the gold fields.

11

The "Gold Rush" fueled California's statehood

Image: Emre Ayata

In 1848, California was a sleepy outpost with little U.S. oversight. By 1850, it had boomed into a booming, brawling land with more than enough people.

The rush had brought merchants, farmers, lawyers, and politicians. With them came the push for schools, railroads, and laws. California skipped the usual phase of being a U.S. territory and leapfrogged straight into statehood.

12

Women and children wrote some of the best eyewitness accounts

Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art

Some of the most vivid details of this era came from women and children who chronicled the chaos . Their letters and diaries tell of lonely cabins, muddy streets, makeshift schools, and the daily drama of camp life.

Women like Louise Clappe (aka "Dame Shirley") wrote witty, unfiltered dispatches from the Sierra Nevada. Young girls described the thrill of arriving in San Francisco and the terror of crossing the plains.

13

The Gold Rush didn't end in 1850

Image: Michael & Diane Weidner

By the time most folks arrived, the easy pickings were gone, and the story was just getting started.

The gold fever didn’t vanish in a year. Prospecting surged well into the 1850s and beyond. Some of the biggest strikes, like Nevada’s Comstock Lode in 1859, came after the main rush was supposedly over. By then, mining had evolved into an industrial enterprise, with machinery, corporations, and deeper digs.

1

John Henry

Image: Ylanite Koppens

John Henry is one of the greatest heroes of American folklore, so it is not surprising that several songs celebrate his deeds. The legend of his battle with the steam drill symbolizes humanity’s struggle against automation and technological change, inspiring countless tunes.

There are many musical versions of John Henry’s story: some are ballads, while others are "hammer songs" (a type of song related to railroad work). Whatever the genre, all of these traditional songs are so good that the best American musicians have recorded them multiple times over the years.

2

Oh My Darling, Clementine

Image: Angshu Purkait

There are multiple variations of this song, but it is believed to have been written by Percy Montrose in 1883. The melody may be older and possibly inspired by a Spanish ballad , while the lyrics likely emerged sometime after the Gold Rush era.

Over the years, several verses were added and numerous versions were recorded, such as Bing Crosby's in the 1940s and Bobby Darin's in the 1960s. Despite its age, "Clementine" remains a popular song for group singing all across America.

3

In the Pines

Image: Priscilla Du Preez

Like numerous other folk songs, the lyrics and melody of "In the Pines" were passed down orally from generation to generation, and its original author remains unknown. What we do know is that it dates back to at least the 1870s and likely originated in the Southern Appalachian region.

The structure of this unique, moody, blues-style song, as we know it today, has mutated over the years, merging with other tunes. The important thing is that "In the Pines" has become a staple of American music, being recorded by numerous artists, including Bill Monroe, Lead Belly, and even grunge band Nirvana.

4

Worried Man Blues

Image: LunarSeaArt

When hillbilly singers came into contact with African American blues, songs like "Worried Man Blues" began to emerge. The verses were likely inspired by the story of someone sentenced to work on a chain gang.

The song may have roots in a 19th-century African American spiritual , but it became widely known after the Carter Family recorded it in the 1930s, giving it a strong foothold in the country and early bluegrass repertoire. Decades later, folk revivalists adopted the tune, ensuring its place as a classic of American folk music.

5

Oh Shenandoah

Image: Matheus Ferrero

Although the exact origin of this folk song is uncertain, we know that it was sung as a river shanty in the 19th century, especially by American and Canadian fur traders traveling down the Missouri River.

The word Shenandoah is connected to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, though its precise meaning is debated. Some suggest it derives from an Iroquois word meaning "land of big mountains" or "daughter of the stars." Some versions of the song tell the story of a redskin chief, Shenandoah, and his beautiful daughter. According to the legend, a white trader eloped with the maiden after silencing the chief with firewater.

6

Oh! Susanna

Image: ClickerHappy

"Oh! Susanna" is often considered the first big hit in American popular music. It became especially famous among the '49ers during the California Gold Rush and became an emblem of the conquest of the West.

With influences from European polka music and earlier traditional folk songs, "Oh! Susanna" was published in 1848 by Stephen Foster, later nicknamed the "Father of American Music." Many artists recorded different versions over the years, including The Big 3, The Byrds, and James Taylor.

7

Red River Valley

Image: Priscilla Du Preez

It is common for folk songs to be adapted to different regions , and this tune is no exception. Over the years, it has been named and renamed for many different valleys and locales. Most 20th-century versions use the title "Red River Valley" and, by implication, place it along the Red River that forms part of the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma.

However, some evidence suggests that the original version actually dates to around 1870 in Canada, near the Red River that flows into Lake Winnipeg. In that version, the lyrics tell of a French-Indian maiden lamenting the departure of a soldier who had come, stayed briefly, and then left. For Americans, though, the song is most closely associated with cowboys and the Red River of the South.

8

Man of Constant Sorrow

Image: Wilawan Pantukang

The origin of this southern mountain song is somewhat obscure. It is absent from most of the major standard collections, but some experts believe it might have been inspired by the 19th-century hymn "I Am a Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow."

Although numerous versions with different names and lyrics have circulated since at least the early 20th century, "Man of Constant Sorrow" was popularized by the Stanley Brothers in the 1950s. Soon after, musicians such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Judy Collins recorded their own interpretations, helping to cement its place as a classic of American folk music.

9

Home on the Range

Image: Jeremy Bishop

One of the best-known cowboy and Western songs, "Home on the Range," has long been the subject of disputes regarding its authorship. The most widely held theory is that it was inspired by a poem called "My Western Home," written by Dr. Brewster Higley in the 1870s. The well-known American composer David W. Guion claimed to have composed the music, stating that he wrote it at the age of 16, influenced by his life in West Texas.

"Home on the Range" enjoyed great popularity in the 1930s through radio broadcasts and recordings during the cowboy-song fad. Since 1947, it has been Kansas’s official state song.

10

Michael, Row the Boat Ashore

Image: Blind Rhino Media

Folk song revivalists discovered "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" in the Georgia Sea Islands and passed it around widely and fervently. The tune blends spiritual, calypso, and sea-song styles, and it likely originated as both a spiritual and a work song sung by enslaved crews on plantation riverboats.

The name Michael refers to the Archangel Michael, and the song was likely used when the load was heavy or the boat was going against the tide. In the 1960s, it was popularized by folk band The Highwaymen and was also recorded by other artists such as Pete Seeger, Bob Gibson, and Harry Belafonte, among others.