Tag Archives: Today in History

Happy birthday, Zora Neale Hurston!

On January 7, 1891, the African American author and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama. At age three, she moved with her family to Eatonville, Florida, one of the first all-black towns incorporated after the Emancipation Proclamation, and later attended Howard University in Washington, DC. After earning an associate’s degree at Howard, she was offered a scholarship to Barnard College, Columbia University, where she studied anthropology and … Read more »

“If my name goes into history, it will be for this act…”

Earlier this week marked the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which Abraham Lincoln signed on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation declared that the roughly 3.1 million slaves held in bondage in the “States and parts of States wherein the people thereof […] are this day in rebellion against the United States […] are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including … Read more »

Remembering a Valley Forge Christmas

On December 19, 1777, 12,000 Continental soldiers under the command of General George Washington made their way to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to set up camp for the winter. Just months after their October defeat at the Battle of Germantown, in which the British secured their control over Philadelphia, Washington’s men were demoralized, poorly-fed, weary, and ill-equipped for the harsh winter. Many of the soldiers did not have shoes to … Read more »

A date which will live in infamy

 In the early afternoon of December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was interrupted by a telephone call from Secretary of War Henry Stimson with news that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, a US naval base in Hawaii. The attack had begun at 7:55 a.m. and killed roughly 2,400 Americans over the course of its two-hour duration. 

Today in history: Thirteenth Amendment adopted

On December 6, 1865, Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, making the Amendment ratified by three-quarters of the states and thereby adopted. Slavery in the United States was, at last, formally abolished.

The Senate had passed the Amendment in April of 1864, but it took nearly another year for the House of Representatives to do so. As Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln shows, President Abraham Lincoln took … Read more »

Happy Birthday, Mark Twain!

On November 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (pen name Mark Twain) was born in Florida, Missouri, but he spent most of his childhood growing up in Hannibal, Missouri, where his family moved when he was four. Located on the Mississippi River, Hannibal provided the setting for the fictional town of St. Petersburg in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

As a teenager, Twain worked as … Read more »

Call me Ishmael

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is … Read more »

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial turns 30

“On the chilly, blustery morning of November 13, 1982, thousands of Vietnam War veterans assembled in the nation’s capital to march down Constitution Avenue. Some had donned army fatigues, camouflage suits, or dress uniforms; others wore business attire, with raincoats or jackets. They came from every state. […] The long line moved west down the avenue and gathered on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial. There, the marchers took part in … Read more »

Today in History: The Continental Congress petitions King George III

On October 26, 1774, the First Continental Congress petitioned King George III with a list of grievances, seeking his assistance to provide to the colonists their rights as English citizens. The letter was signed by fifty-one delegates to the Congress. Writing as “English Freemen” and “the heirs of freedom,” the Congress sought relief from the Coercive Acts, passed by the British Parliament in March of 1774, that the colonists … Read more »

Today in History: Siege of Yorktown ends

On October 19, 1781, British General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to the Continental Army, after American and French troops, led by George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau, respectively, had successfully won the Battle of Yorktown. This engagement was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War and caused the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict. The National Park Service has a … Read more »