0240 BC – Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks.

1586 – English colonists sailed away from Roanoke Island, NC, after failing to establish England’s first permanent settlement in America.

1778 – U.S. General George Washington’s troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training.

1821 – The Ottomans defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Dragasani.

1846 – The New York Knickerbocker Club played the New York Club in the first baseball game at the Elysian Field, Hoboken, NJ. It was the first organized baseball game.

1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in U.S. territories.

1864 – The USS Kearsarge sank the CSS Alabama off of Cherbourg, France.

1865 – The emancipation of slaves was proclaimed in Texas.

1867 – In New York, the Belmont Stakes was run for the first time.

1873 – Eadweard Muybridge successfully photographed a horse named “Sallie Gardner” in fast motion using a series of 24 stereoscopic cameras. This is considered the first step toward motion pictures.

1903 – The young school teacher, Benito Mussolini, was placed under investigation by police in Bern, Switzerland.

1910 – The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.

1911 – In Pennsylvania, the first motion-picture censorship board was established.

1912 – The U.S. government established the 8-hour work day.

1917 – During World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames.

1933 – France granted Leon Trotsky political asylum.

1934 – The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration was established.

1934 – The U.S. Congress established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The commission was to regulate radio and TV broadcasting (later).

1937 – The town of Bilbao, Spain, fell to the Nationalist forces.

1939 – In Atlanta, GA, legislation was enacted that disallowed pinball machines in the city.

1942 – Norma Jeane Mortenson (Marilyn Monroe) and her 21-year-old neighbor Jimmy Dougherty were married. They were divorced in June of 1946.

1942 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, DC, to discuss the invasion of North Africa with U.S. President Roosevelt.

1943 – Henry Kissinger became a naturalized United States citizen.

1943 – The National Football League approved the merger of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

1944 – The U.S. won the battle of the Philippine Sea against the Imperial Japanese fleet.

1951 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which extended Selective Service until July 1, 1955 and lowered the draft age to 18.

1958 – In Washington, DC, nine entertainers refused to answer a congressional committee’s questions on communism.

1961 – Kuwait regained complete independence from Britain.

1961 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland’s constitution that required state officeholders to profess a belief in God.

1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the U.S. Senate.

1965 – Air Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky became South Vietnam’s youngest premier at age 34.

1968 – 50,000 people marched on Washington, DC. to support the Poor People’s Campaign.

1973 – The Case-Church Amendment prevented further U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

1973 – The stage production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” opened in London.

1973 – Gordie Howe left the NHL to join his sons Mark and Marty in the WHA (World Hockey League).

1981 – The European Space Agency sent two satellites into orbit from Kourou, French Guiana.

1983 – Lixian-nian was chosen to be China’s first president since 1969.

1987 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Louisiana law that required that schools teach creationism.

1997 – William Hague became the youngest leader of Britain’s Conservative party in nearly 200 years.

1998 – Gateway was fined more than $400,000 for illegally shipping personal computers to 16 countries subject to U.S. export controls.

1998 – A study released said that smoking more than doubles risks of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s.

1998 – Switzerland’s three largest banks offered $600 million to settle claims they’d stolen the assets of Holocaust victims during World War II. Jewish leaders called the offer insultingly low.

2000 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a group prayer led by students at public-school football games violated the 1st Amendment’s principle that called for the separation of church and state.

on-this-day.com

How the 1982 Murder of Vincent Chin Ignited a Push for Asian American Rights

Two autoworkers who reportedly mistook Chin to be Japanese received no jail time for the killing.

By: Becky Little

Joy Harjo, renowned for evocative poetry that weaves Indigenous culture and personal narrative, is appointed America’s first Native American poet laureate, a historic moment celebrating her powerful voice and rich storytelling.

Source: history.com

Alan Berg was born in Chicago in 1934, the son of a Jewish dentist and a clothing shop manager. As a youngster, he had bright red hair and a temper to match. His hobbies were golf, stamp collecting, and photography. At age seventeen he went off to college at the University of Colorado–Boulder, where he was happy to be away from his father, whom he viewed as a hypocritical anti-Semite. After two years in Boulder, Berg transferred to the University of Denver, then the University of Miami in Florida, DePaul University in Chicago, Northwestern University, and then back to DePaul, finally graduating from its law school. In 1958 he married Judy Halpern of Denver, and the couple settled in Chicago, where he practiced law. Berg was an able and successful criminal defense lawyer, and his affable glibness in front of juries served him well.

Berg began experiencing epileptic-like grand mal seizures, surviving all of them but often experiencing depression. He discovered that martinis calmed him down and soothed the anxieties he could not otherwise get rid of. He eventually abandoned his law practice and he and Judy moved back to Denver, where he entered St. Joseph Hospital to dry out. Berg opened his own clothing shop, the Shirt Broker, in Seventeenth Street’s Albany Hotel.

Source: coloradoencyclopedia.org

Bernard W. Robinson, the first African American

Naval officer, commissioned in the US Naval Reserve.  Robinson attended Harvard Medical School and became a prominent radiologist after the war. Dedicated to the care of veterans, Robinson served in the Veterans Administration Hospitals system for the remainder of his career, interrupted only by his re-enlistment in the Navy from 1953-55. Robinson passed away suddenly in his Allen Park, Michigan home on August 23^rd, 1972.

Robinson’s commission marks one of many firsts for African Americans during WWII, despite unfavorable odds. African Americans were not only fighting for victory abroad, but also victory at home against racial prejudice. On the Home Front and the battlefronts, blacks encountered restrictions solely based on the color of their skin. The military was segregated and African Americans struggled to find jobs in defense factories. If they did manage to secure work, it was usually at a much lower pay than their white counterparts.

Robinson’s experiences mirror other successes, acts of courage, and achievements of African Americans throughout the war. The Tuskegee Airmen became the first black pilots of the war, with a stellar flying record. The Montford Point Marines, who served in the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, became the first African American Marines in the Corps’ 167 year history. The all-black 761st Tank Battalion spent 183 days in continuous combat, far surpassing the average of 17 days in continuous service.

Recognizing the accomplishments and sacrifices of returning black veterans, Harry Truman desegregated the military in 1948. Proving their skill and leadership on the battlefield, former servicemen like Ralph Abernathy, Whitney Young and Medger Evers began to fight for the second part of the Double Victory campaign – Victory at Home- as they returned to the United States at the war’s conclusion.

To learn more and download a fact sheet, visit WWII at a Glance

Teachers! Bring the experiences of African Americans during WWII into your classroom. Book our Double Victory Virtual Field Trip.

Posted by Chrissy Gregg, Virtual Classroom Coordinator at The National WWII Museum.

Resource nww2m.com