February 29 Hattie McDaniel wins Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mammy, in Gone with the Wind at the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards. McDaniel was the first African American to be honored with an Oscar. – 1940. March 1 In Salem Village in the...
February 22 Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S. secretary of state John Quincy Adams sign the Florida Purchase Treaty, in which Spain agrees to cede the remainder of its old province of Florida to the United States. – 1819. In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic...
February 15 Toy store owner and inventor Morris Michtom places two stuffed bears in his shop window and advertises them as Teddy bears. Michtom earlier had petitioned U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt for permission to use his nickname, Teddy. The president agreed and, before long, other toy manufacturers began turning out...
February 8 Following the Russian rejection of a Japanese plan to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, Japan launches a surprise naval attack against Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. The Russian fleet was decimated. – 1904. A severe blizzard in New England finally subsides, and...
Members of the community are invited to gather at 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 15 for a candlelight vigil to commemorate the solemn occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Henry Pratt tragedy. The remembrance ceremony will honor the five men who lost their lives – Russell Beyer, Vicente Juarez, Clayton...
February 1 The Collar Laundry Union forms in Troy, N.Y.; raises earnings for female laundry workers from $2. to $14. a week. – 1864. The first portion of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, is published. Today, the OED is...
January 25 Sojourner Truth addresses first Black Women’s Rights convention. – 1851. At the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106-carat diamond is discovered. It is the largest diamond ever found, to weigh in at 1.33 pounds and the estimated price in today’s market would be approximately $400 million....
January 18 For the first time since joining the World Court in 1946, the United States walks out of a case. The case that caused the dramatic walkout concerned U.S. paramilitary activities against the Nicaraguan government. – 1985. January 19 Following the death of Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri,...
The City of Aurora will come together on Monday to celebrate the 95th birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The City’s 39th Annual Aurora MLK Ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, January 15, at Calvary Church, 9S200 Route 59. With the theme ‘What Happens to...
Yorkville resident Barbara Johnson, left, and sister Connie Kross, Sandwich, Sunday pose with a display chronicling suburban Norwegian-American women.
January 11 U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt declares the massive Grand Canyon in northwestern Arizona a national monument. – 1908. The IWW-organized “Bread & Roses” textile strike of 32,000 women and children begins in Lawrence, Mass.. It lasts 10 weeks and ends in victory. – 1912. January 12 There were unseasonably-warm-weather...
January 4 Six years after Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon Church, issued his Manifesto reforming political, religious, and economic life in Utah, the territory is admitted into the Union as the 45th state. – 1896. For the first time since Charlemagne’s reign in the 9th Century, Europe is united...
December 28 The world’s first commercial movie screening takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was made by Louis and Auguste Lumiere, two French brothers who developed a camera-projector called the Cinematographe. The Lumiere brothers unveiled their invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief...
December 21 Powered by children seven years-old to 12 years-old who worked dawn to dusk, Samuel Slater’s thread-spinning factory goes into production in Pawtucket, R.I., which launches the Industrial Revolution in the United States. By 1830, 55% of the mill workers in the State were youngsters, many working for less...
“Angels, contented with their fame in Heaven seek not the praise of men.” —Paradise Lost, John Milton Winged spirits converged around the long wooden table contemplating all that still needed to be done before Christmas Day. Angels were everywhere. And they were busy. All of the sweet treats needed to...
December 14 Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole ahead of his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott. – 1911. Some 33,000 striking members of the Machinists end a 69-day walkout at Boeing after winning pay and benefit increases and protections against subcontracting some of their...
“Never, never, never give up.” Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, soldier and prime minister of the United Kingdom who was born November 30,1874 to Lord Randolph and Lady Randolph Churchill of wealthy British aristocratic lineage. He was not a handsome man, with a bulldog...
December 7 At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings, appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes follow and descends on the U.S. naval base at Pearl...
As we look at what is happening to the Republican Party, it may seem difficult to believe that it was originally formed as a reform party. In the 1850s political landscape, the major parties – the Whigs and the Democrats – struggled for dominance, and neither party was above anti-democratic...
November 30 The first modern instance of a meteorite striking a human being occurs at Sylacauga, Ala., when a meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and strikes Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges who was sleeping on a couch at the time of impact. Mrs. Hodges was not permanently injured, but...
