a repost, in support of the moment

2016

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick sits during national anthem

ART BY DIANA OFOSU

To help address the food shortage crisis in Japan after World War II, inventor and businessman Momofuku Ando develops Chicken Ramen, the first-ever instant noodles, on August 25, 1958. The shelf-stable noodles are readily available, take two minutes to cook and fill hungry bellies. Today, instant noodles are a ubiquitous global fast food—and not just in college dorms. More than 100 billion servings of the just-add-water meals are consumed annually, the World Instant Noodles Association reports.

While ramen is considered quintessentially Japanese, it actually originated in China. In 1858, when Japan ended its nearly 200 years of self-imposed isolation, cultural exchange and trade began to flourish. An influx of Chinese migrants brought their culinary skills to Japan, introducing the wheat-based noodles to Japanese tastebuds. After decades of adaptation, the restaurant-quality ramen we know today—a savory broth typically combined with shredded meat, vegetables and fresh aromatics—was developed in 1926 by a chef named Wang Wen-chai at a Chinese restaurant in Sapporo, Hokkaido. His challenge: to make noodles that appealed to the palates of both Chinese and Japanese students studying locally.

In the years after World War II, widespread food shortages in Japan led to the introduction of black-market food vendors selling ramen. According the Nissin, the company Momofuku Ando founded, Ando noticed long lines forming at the black-market ramen stalls. It was then he set his goal: to create noodles that can be “quickly prepared and eaten at home with only hot water.”

Source: history.com

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson claims the women’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon and becomes the first African American to win a championship at London’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina, and raised in the Harlem section of New York City. She began playing tennis as a teenager and went on to win the national Black women’s championship twice. At a time when tennis was largely segregated, four-time U.S. Nationals winner Alice Marble advocated on Gibson’s behalf and the 5’11” player was invited to make her United States National Championships (now known as the U.S. Open) debut in 1950. In 1956, Gibson’s tennis career took off and she won the singles title at the French Championships (now known as the French Open)—the first African American to do so—as well as the doubles’ title there. In July 1957, Gibson won Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard, 6-3, 6-2. (In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first African American man to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, when he defeated Jimmy Connors.) In September 1957, she won the U.S. Open, and the Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958. During the 1950s, Gibson won 56 singles and doubles titles, including 11 major titles.

Source:

history.com

On August 25, 1979, the storm that will become Hurricane David forms near Cape Verde off the African coast in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It would go on to devastate the island of Dominica, and then the Dominican Republic, killing 1,500 people. On August 27, two days after …read more