1570 – England’s Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V.

1751 – Edward Willet displayed the first trained monkey act in the U.S.

1791 – First Bank of the United States (The President, Directors and Company, of the Bank of the United States) was chartered by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Washington.

1793 – The department heads of the U.S. government met with U.S. President Washington for the first Cabinet meeting on U.S. record.

1836 – Samuel Colt received U.S. Patent No. 138 (later 9430X) for a “revolving-cylinder pistol.” It was his first patent.

1901 – The United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

1913 – The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized a graduated income tax.

1919 – The state of Oregon became the first state to place a tax on gasoline. The tax was 1 cent per gallon.

1928 – The Federal Radio Commission issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC.

1930 – The bank check photographing device was patented.

1933 – The aircraft carrier Ranger was launched. It was the first ship in the U.S. Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier.

1837 – Thomas Davenport patented the first commercial electrical motor. There was no practical electical distribution system available and Davenport went bankrupt.

1940 – The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.

1948 – Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.

1950 – “Your Show of Shows” debuted on NBC.

1956 – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow.

1972 – Germany gave a $5 million ransom to Arab terrorists who had hijacked a jumbo jet.

1986 – Filippino President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule after a tainted election.

1999 – William King was sentenced to death for the racial murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, TX. Two other men charged were later convicted for their involvement.

1999 – In Moscow, China’s Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin discussed trade and other issues.

2000 – In Albany, NY, a jury acquitted four New York City police officers of second-degree murder and lesser charges in the February 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

2005 – Dennis Rader was arrested for the BTK serial killings in Wichita, KS. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 life prison terms.

from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery, that occurred March 21–25, 1965. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the march was the culminating event of several tumultuous weeks during which demonstrators twice attempted to march but were stopped, once violently, by local police. As many as 25,000 people participated in the roughly 50-mile (80-km) march. Together, these events became a landmark in the American civil rights movement and directly led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

for the complete post go to: britannica.com

1st woman U.S. senator selected….

Item # 565217

October 4, 1922

THE NEW YORK TIMES, New York, October 4, 1922

* Rebecca Latimer Felton
* 1st United States Woman senator
* Historic political item

This 48 page newspaper has one column headlines on the front page that include: “GEORGIA WOMAN, 87, IS NAMED AS SENATOR”, “Mrs. W.H. Felton Is Appointed by Governor Hardwick to Fill Watson’s Place”, “FIRST OF SEX SO HONORED” and more. (see)

Tells of the very 1st United States female senator being officially chosen. A historic item on the beginnings of Women in politics.

Other news of the day. Usual browning with some margin wear and tear, otherwise good. Should be handled with care.

wikipedia notes: Rebecca Ann Latimer Felton (June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was a white supremacist American writer, teacher, reformer, and briefly a politician who became the first woman to serve in the United States Senate, filling an appointment on November 21, 1922, and serving until the next day. At 87 years old, 9 months and 22 days, she was also the oldest freshman senator to enter the Senate. As of 2009, she is also the only woman to have served as a Senator from Georgia.

In 1922, Governor Thomas W. Hardwick was a candidate for the next general election to the Senate, when Senator Thomas E. Watson died prematurely. Seeking an appointee who would not be a competitor in the coming special election to fill the vacant seat, and a way to secure the vote of the new women voters alienated by his opposition to the 19th Amendment, Hardwick chose Felton to serve as Senator on October 3, 1922.

Source: rarenewspapers.com

Women’s History Month

Harriet Maxwell Converse

Harriet Maxwell was born in 1836 in Elmira, New York, and raised within a family that was fascinated by Native cultures. Both her grandfather and her father were Indian traders who had been adopted by the Seneca Nation; her grandfather, Guy Maxwell, even earned the respected name “Ta-se-wa-ya-ee” (translated as “Honest Trader”).

Not much is known about Harriet’s early years; only that after her mother died, she was sent to live with an aunt in Milan, Ohio, and for a time attended school with Thomas Edison. At the age of 25 Harriet married Frank Converse, a musician best known as “The Father of the Banjo.” His wealth, combined with a fortune Harriet inherited from her father, enabled the couple to spend many years travelling throughout the U.S and Europe. Harriet would devote time not spent on the road to her writing talents, and she became a published poet and regular contributor to national magazines.

By 1881, Harriet and Frank Converse were living on West 46th Street in New York City — not far from the apartment house of Ely and Minnie Parker. A chance social encounter led to a long friendship between the two couples, the deepest bond forming between Ely and Harriet. Parker’s knowledge of the Haudenosaunee rekindled her interest in Native cultures, and with the Sachem’s guidance Harriet began to research and write about the Six Nations. She traveled to reservations in western New York as well as Canada, collecting wampum belts and other cultural artifacts, most of which are held today in the collections of the State Museum at Albany. She also became a political advocate for the Six Nations, writing on their behalf against legislation for citizenship and new financial claims from the Ogden Land Company. In 1884, Harriet teamed with Ely Parker to fundraise the Buffalo Historical Society’s efforts to erect a monument to the Seneca orator Red Jacket. However, their hoped-for design of a barren, knobbed tree was rejected as “horrid,” and another larger-than-life heroic sculpture of Red Jacket now stands in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

The Seneca Nation recognized Harriet’s untiring efforts by adopting her into the Snipe Clan, and giving her the name “Gayaneshaoh.” In September of 1891, Converse became the first white woman ever condoled as a Six Nations Chief. She was invested with the responsibility of the welfare of her adopted people, and given a new name, “Gaiiwanoh,” translated as “The Watcher.”

Harriet Maxwell Converse died in November of 1903, just a few weeks after her husband passed away. Her collection of essays entitled Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquois was published 5 years later, edited by Ely Parker’s grand-nephew, Arthur C. Parker.

Resources:    on-this-day.org      pbs.org