You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without Captain America.
In April 2014, Charles Moss wrote about how Captain America became a McCarthy-esque warrior against Communism in the 1950s.
Around the time you were born, the U.S. launched the Guadalcanal Campaign, the first major Allied offensive against the Japanese during World War II.
In the May 2010 issue, Jon Zobenica examined books that changed how to look at the history of World War II's Pacific Theatre.
You were born in August of 1942. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 2 times as old as you.
The year you were born, Bernard Iddings Bell wrote about how the Christian church must adapt to maintain a foothold in mainstream culture.
Around your 18th birthday, former European colonies in Africa began declaring independence en masse, starting with Benin.
In October 2012, Armin Rosen wrote about what imminent African independence looked like to a British diplomat in 1959.
Ed Widdis / AP
In 1969, Barbra Streisand, who was born the same year as you, won her first Academy Award for the movie Funny Girl.
In October 2010, Stephen Cooke wrote about the band Duck Sauce's song "Barbra Streisand."
NASA
At 26 years old, you were alive to behold people walking on the moon.
Over the years, the moon landing has come to be lauded as the pinnacle of human achievement, although it was often derided at the time. In 1963, NASA astronauts took to The Atlantic to plead the case for landing on the moon.
Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after hip-hop records.
In March 2015, Irvin Weathersby Jr. wrote about what hip-hop can teach Americans.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute
When you turned 64, you watched humankind reach the outer solar system.
With NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission in 2005, humans landed a probe in the outer reaches of the solar system for the first time, a moment Ross Andersen called the most glorious mission in the history of planetary science.
History is happening all around you, every day.
The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these:
Tell your story.
