1242 – Russian troops repelled an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.

1614 – American Indian Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.

1621 – The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, MA, on a return trip to England.

1792 – U.S. President George Washington cast the first presidential veto. The measure was for apportioning representatives among the states.

1806 – Isaac Quintard patented the cider mill.

1827 – James H. Hackett became the first American actor to appear abroad as he performed at Covent Garden in London, England.

1843 – Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong to be a British crown colony.

1869 – Daniel Bakeman, the last surviving soldier of the U.S. Revolutionary War, died at the age of 109.

1887 – Anne Sullivan taught Helen Keller the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the manual alphabet.

1892 – Walter H. Coe patented gold leaf in rolls.

1892 – In New York, the Ithaca Daily Journal published an ad introducing a new 10 cent Ice Cream Specialty called a Cherry Sunday.

1895 – Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde had been accused of homosexual practices.

1908 – The Japanese Army reached the Yalu River as the Russians retreated.

1919 – Eamon de Valera became president of Ireland.

1923 – Firestone Tire and Rubber Company began the first regular production of balloon tires.

1930 – Mahatma Ghandi defied British law by making salt in India.

1933 – The first operation to remove a lung was performed at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO.

1941 – German commandos secured docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany’s invasion of the Balkans.

1951 – Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for committing espionage for the Soviet Union.

1953 – Jomo Kenyatta was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison for orchestrating the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya.

1955 – Winston Churchill resigned as British prime minister.

1984 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers) became the all-time NBA regular season scoring leader when he broke Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 31,419 career points.

1986 – A discotheque in Berlin was bombed by Libyan terrorists. The U.S. attacked Libya with warplanes in retaliation on April 15, 1986.

1987 – FOX Broadcasting Company launched “Married….With Children” and “The Tracey Ullman Show”. The two shows were the beginning of the FOX lineup.

1989 – In Poland, accords were signed between Solidarity and the government that set free elections for June 1989. The eight-year ban on Solidarity was also set to be lifted.

1998 – The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan opened becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. It links Shikoku and Honshu. The bridge cost about $3.8 billion.

1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bombing a Pan Am jet in 1988 were handed over so they could be flown to the Netherlands for trial. 270 people were killed in the bombing.

1999 – In Laramie, WY, Russell Henderson pled guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in the death of Matthew Shepard.

2004 – Near Mexico City’s international airport, lightning struck the jet Mexican President Vicente Fox was on.

2009 – North Korea launched the Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Written By: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
See Article History

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), (1933–42), one of the earliest New Deal programs, established to relieve unemployment during the Great Depression by providing national conservation work primarily for young unmarried men. Projects included planting trees, building flood barriers, fighting forest fires, and maintaining forest roads and trails.

Recruits lived in work camps under a semi-military regime; monthly cash allowances of $30 were supplemented by a provision of food, medical care, and other necessities. The CCC, which at its largest employed 500,000 men, provided work for a total of 3,000,000 during its existence.

Frances Perkins, original name Fannie Coralie Perkins, (born April 10, 1882, Boston, Mass., U.S.—died May 14, 1965, New York, N.Y.), U.S. secretary of labor during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Besides being the first woman to be appointed to a cabinet post, she also served one of the longest terms of any Roosevelt appointee (1933–45). When Roosevelt entered the presidency in 1933 he named Perkins secretary of labor, making her the first woman to serve in a cabinet position. After the initial controversy of her appointment died away she settled into a 12-year term of effective administration of her department. She pushed for a minimum wage and maximum workweek, a limit on employment of children under 16, creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, and unemployment compensation—all of which were enacted. She helped draft the Social Security Act and supervised the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). When the focus of labour activity shifted in the late 1930s from the government to unions, Perkins played a less visible role. Her most important work was then the building up of the Department of Labor, particularly the strengthening of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nothing required more urgent attention than the masses of unemployed workers who, with their families, had soon overwhelmed the miserably underfinanced bodies that provided direct relief. On May 12, 1933, Congress established a Federal Emergency Relief Administration to distribute half a billion dollars to state and local agencies. Roosevelt also created the Civil Works Administration, which by January 1934 was employing more than 4,000,000 men and women. Alarmed by rising costs, Roosevelt dismantled the CWA in 1934, but the persistence of high unemployment led him to make another about-face. In 1935 the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act provided almost $5,000,000,000 to create work for some 3,500,000 persons. The Public Works Administration (PWA), established in 1933, provided jobs on long-term construction projects, and the Civilian Conservation Corps put 2,500,000 young men to work planting or otherwise improving huge tracts of forestland. For homeowners, the Federal Housing Administration began insuring private home-improvement loans to middle-income families in 1934; in 1938 it became a home-building agency as well.

The Great Depression: Agriculture Recovery: Business Recovery

The CCC, rooted in the system of public works initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, continued until 1942, acquainting many people with forestry as a major government activity.

 

britannica.com for several complete articles on the CCC

Herbert Leeson Edwin William R. ChaneyPhillip E. Pope

A march and rally in support of reproductive justice for women draws several hundred thousand people to demonstrations in Washington, D.C. One of the largest protest marches on the nation’s capital, the pro-choice rally came as the U.S. Supreme Court was about to consider the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania state law that limited access to abortions. Many abortion rights advocates feared that the high court, with its conservative majority, might endorse the Pennsylvania law or even overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortion legal.

In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that women, as part of their constitutional right to privacy, could terminate a pregnancy during the first two trimesters. Only during the last trimester, when the fetus can survive outside the womb, would states be permitted to regulate abortion in a healthy pregnancy. The historic ruling, essentially reversing a century of anti-abortion legislation in America, was the result of a call by many American women for control over their own reproductive processes.

Source: For the complete article, history.com

National Arab American Heritage Month – April

National Arab American Heritage Month recognizes the culture of Arab Americans. It hopes to raise awareness about the diversity of Arab American communities. By fostering a culture of understanding, this allows all Americans, including Arab Americans, to live together with a sense of belonging and acceptance.