Curiosity Won't Kill You But It Will Make You Smarter

"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on.  Life was meant to be lived.  Curiosity must be kept alive.  One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Dr. Matthew Gruber conducted a University of California in which he posed a series of trivia questions to his test cases.  Each question was followed by a 14 second delay and then he showed the test cases a neutral, unrelated picture of a face.  Later he gave each test case a recognition test of the trivia as well as the faces.  During the study, the test cases' brains were scanned.  The results revealed that:

1.  For those test cases who were highly curious, they retained more trivia and showed more face recognition.

2.  When their curiosity was stimulated, their brain circuits showed increased activity related to the reward area of the brain. The study showed that intrinsic motivation recruits the same areas of the brain as extrinsic motivation.

3.  Curiosity motivated learning increased activity in the hippocampus, the small part of the brain that looks like a seahorse (the French word is "hippocampe").  The interaction between the brain's rewards system and the hippocampus puts the brain in an alert state.

Dr. Gruber concluded:  "Curiosity may put the brain in a state that allows it to learn and retain any kind of information like a vortex that sucks in what you are motivated to learn and also everything around it." (http://theantimedia.org/curiosity-fix-enhancing-memory-intellect/)

A healthy curiosity sets the stage for lifelong learning and learning can bring us closer to our goals. Eleanor Roosevelt was a champion of learning.  While many First Ladies were content to sit back and let their husbands take centre stage, Eleanor Roosevelt was heavily involved in political life.  She held her own press conferences.  A champion of literacy, for almost three decades she contributed to a daily (except Sundays) newspaper column called "My Day" on weighty issues like Prohibition, World War II and race relations.  She worked tirelessly for various charities.  Eleanor explained: 

"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on.  Life was meant to be lived.  Curiosity must be kept alive.  One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." (http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/04/22-great-quotes-on-curiosity/)

One of Eleanor Roosevelt's goals was to draft a Charter on Human Rights, a goal which she met in 1948 when she served as the United States Delegate to the United Nations.

Note:  Read "Ten Ways to Foster A Culture of Creativity in Your Learning Organization" at http://etale.org/main/2015/06/22/10-ways-to-foster-a-culture-of-curiosity-in-your-learning-organization/.

http://izquotes.com/quote/262762

C. Alfred Anderson: The Father of Black Aviation

His first flight was in a Velie Monocoupe in 1929.  He flew over the Atlantic.  And he flew with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1941.  He was The Father of Black Aviation.

http://p10.hostingprod.com/@veliepartsboard.com/planes/planes.html

Born and raised in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, C. Alfred Anderson was always fascinated with flight.  He saved his money and at 20, had enough to take flying lessons.  However, because of his race, no one would teach him how to fly.  Anderson realized the only way he would learn was if he bought his own airplane.  With his savings and loans from friends, he purchased a Velie Monocoupe, which he taxied up and down the runway of the local airport, eventually going fast enough to take off.  He taught himself how to land successfully.  Even so, no one would give him formal lessons.

http://blackhistorynow.com/charles-alfred-anderson-sr/

Local flying club member and experienced pilot Russell Thaw needed an airplane to visit his Mom on weekends in Atlantic City.  Anderson needed lessons.  Thaw rented and flew Andersons' plane in exchange for lessons; he earned his sought after pilot's licence in 1929.  Not stopping there, Anderson sought to obtain his air transport licence.  With race again an obstacle, it was "The Flying Dutchman" who came to his aid when German pilot Ernst Buehl was asked to open transcontinental airmail routes in the United States.  By 1932, Anderson became the first black to obtain an air transport licence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Alfred_%22Chief%22_Anderson

In 1940, the Tuskegee Institute debuted a new program to train black pilots and hired Anderson as its Chief Civilian Flight Instructor.  The following year, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt toured the Tuskegee Institute Hospital, and knowing of the new air program, asked to meet its flight instructor.  Eleanor Roosevelt told Anderson that when she was growing up, she had heard that "colored people couldn't fly".  Despite her security detail's reservations, the First Lady requested a flight with Anderson and he obliged, shattering the racial stereotype and confirming what she already suspected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen

Anderson went on to instruct the 99th Air Squadron, the first all black fighter squadron.  Joining three other black squadrons, the Tuskegee Airmen flew 1378 combat missions, destroyed 260 enemy planes and earned over 150 Flying Crosses.

https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2014/pb22384/html/kit.htm

For more information, read The Tuskegee Airmen:  An Illustrated History 1939-1949 at http://www.newsouthbooks.com/bkpgs/detailtitle.php?isbn_solid=1588382443.

Eleanor Roosevelt Invites Martin Luther King Jr. to Tea

"I am greatly interested in the Deerfield situation, because the problems of integration -- in schools, in churches and in job opportunities -- will not be resolved until all people can live anywhere in this wonderful land of ours." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Eleanor Roosevelt presents Martin Luther King Jr. with an award from the Americans for Democratic Action circa 1961 courtesy http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2011/02/troubled-times-dr-king-and-abe-lincoln.html.

In March of 1962, Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, reached out to Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.  She invited him to discuss an integrated housing project at Deerfield, Illinois.  The letter was unusual in two ways:  in the past, First Ladies had not gotten involved in politics; second she was a white woman socializing with a black man, a practice still questioned in the 1960's.

Developper Morris Milgram had successfully planned an integrated community in Concord Park, Pennsylvania.  He hoped to do the same in Deerfield, Illinois.  His plan included 51 housing units, 12 of which would be reserved for blacks.  However, when the community found out, they fought to stall the development.  The builder launched an appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court.  

Eleanor Roosevelt penned a letter to Martin Luther King Jr. inviting him to tea to discuss the issue. The former first lady pointed out:  "I am greatly interested in the Deerfield situation, because the problems of integration -- in schools, in churches and in job opportunities -- will not be resolved until all people can live anywhere in this wonderful land of ours."(http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/letter-eleanor-roosevelt-mlk)

In a time when blacks were usually found in the kitchen, not the Oval Office, of the White House, these words from a former First Lady were considered revolutionary.  In fact, Mrs. Roosevelt had been a vocal opponent of segregation from the time her husband first became president.  She was not afraid to take a stand.  At a public meeting in 1938, she defied Jim crow laws by moving her chair out of the whites only section of the audience to the aisle which separated the blacks from the whites.  Mrs. Roosevelt resigned from the daughters of the American Revolution after they refused to let black singer Marian Anderson perform at Washington's Constitution Hall.  

Eleanor Roosevelt & Marian Anderson in Washington DC courtesy http://newdeal.feri.org/library/k16.htm.

For her stance against segregation, the KKK threatened to have her kidnapped.  FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, had her followed.  Mrs. Roosevelt carried a pistol around with her for protection.

While Eleanor Roosevelt stood up for the proposed integrated neighbourhood in Deerfield, Illinois, the Supreme Court refused to side with the builder and the development was never completed.  The former First Lady might not have won the battle, but she did win the war.  In 1963, President Kennedy initiated Civil Rights legislation which President Johnson signed in 1964.    

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in a 1960 letter to Mrs. Roosevelt:  "Once again, for all you have done, and I'm sure will continue to do to help extend the fruits of Democracy to our southern brothers, please accept my deep and lasting gratitude."  Eleanor Roosevelt passed away on November 7, 1962.