September 15: This Day in History

Today is 

-Independence Day, on this day the nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica from Spain in 1821.

-Battle of Britain Day, United Kingdom

-German-American Steuben Parade, various cities around the United States

-Knowledge Day in Azerbaijan

-International Day of Democracy

-The beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated until October15

(United States)

-Today is the 51st anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in which four African American girls were killed, by American terrorist group the Ku Klux Klan.  14 others were injured in the explosion.  The four girls who were killed: Addie Mae Collins, 14; Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14 and Cynthia Wesley, 14.

-Vanuatu becomes a member of the United Nations

-On September 13th Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to ever to lead a party in the US House of Representatives

On this day

1616 –  The first free school opened to children that do not belong non-aristocratic families opens in Frascati, Italy.

1789 – The United States Department of State is established, (formerly the‘department of foreign affairs’)  On the 29th of September Thomas Jefferson is appointed as the first US secretary of state.

1818 – The HMS Whiting ran aground on the Doom Bar

1830 – The first National Negro Convention began in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.  African American delegates from nine states meet to discuss the prospect of African American emigration to Canada.  The convention gave way for the creation of The American Society of Free People of Color for Improving Their Condition in the United States; For Purchasing Lands; and for the Establishment of a Settlement in the Province of Canada.

1830 – The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens.

1835 – The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, arrives at the Galapagos Islands

1898 – The National Afro-American Council, is founded and is he first nationwide civil rights organization in the United States.  It was also the first organization to invite women as equal members.

1935 – The Nuremberg Laws go into effect, depriving all German Jews of citizenship

1935 – The swastika is adopted as the new national flag of Germany

1952 – The United Nations cedes Eritrea to Ethiopia

1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the fist Soviet leader to visit the United States

1962 – President John F. Kennedy signs off on a $900 million in funds for public works projects in economically depressed areas.

1966 – In response to the University of Texas at Austin sniper attack , President Lyndon B. Johnson, sends a letter to Congress calling for the enactment of gun control legislation.

1970 – General Motors Strike: over 350,000 members of the United Auto Workers begin strike against the car manufacturing giant.  The strike lasts 69 days.

1982 – The first edition of USA Today is published

2008 – Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.

Birthdays

1254 – Marco Polo, Italian merchant traveler  (d.1324)

1789 – James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist

1852 – Edward Alexander Bouchet, educator and the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from an American University was born on this day in New Haven Connecticut.

1857 – William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States and 10th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1889 – Claude McKay, writer and Poet was born on this day in Clarendon, Jamaica. The poet was a powerful voice in the Harlem Renaissance and regarded as one of the major poets of the movement.  McKay died in 1948.   Notablepoems included “if I must Die” (1919) and “Outcast” 1922

1890 – Dame Agatha Christie, English novelist and playwright.  Second bestselling author of all time, coming behind William Shakespeare.

1935 – William Pinkney, the first African American to sail around the world was born on this day in Chicago Illinois.

1969 – Economist and Author Dambisa Moyo, was born on this day in in Lusaka, Zambia.

1977 – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, novelist was born in Engu, Nigeria.  She earned her Master of Arts degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University in 2003 and a Masters in African studies from Yale University in 2008.  She won the Commonwealth Writers prize or best first book in 2005 with her debut novel Purple Hibiscus. In 2008 she was the recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Genius award.

This day in Music: Birthdays

1924 – Bobby Short, American pianist and jazz vocalist.  Born in New York City.

1928 – Julian Edwin “Cannonball” Adderlay, hall of fame alto saxophonist anband leader, was born in Tampa, Florida.  He joined the Miles Davis sextet in 1957.  Formed the Cannonball Adderley Quintet/Sextet alongside his brother Nat.  The group went on to record many albums and won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Small Group or Soloist With Small Group for their recording “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at the Club” in 1967.

1945 – Jesse Mae Norman, opera singer.  Born in Augusta, Georgia.  Earned a bachelors in Music from cume laude, from Howard University and Masters of Music from the University of Michigan. After graduation she moved to Europe to establish herself as a singer and singed a 3 year contract with the Deutsche Opera Berlin.   Norman sang at the inauguration of Ronald Regan in 1985 and the second inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1997.  The singer has received honorary doctorates from over 30 colleges, universities and conservatories.  Norman was the recipient of the National Medal of the Arts in 2009.

1956 –Jacki Graham, singer,  1985 single ‘Could it be I’m fallin in love’.

1962 – The Four Seasons have a No. 1 hit with their single “Sherry”

1969 – DJ Kay Gee of Naughty by Nature, is born Keir Gist in East Orange, New Jersey.

On this day in Music

1973 – Protest singer Victor Jara is murdered in Chile under orders by the country’s new dictator, Augusto Pinochet.

1979 – Bob Dylan releases, Slow Train Coming

1983 – Huey Lewis and the News release the album “Sports”  the album goes on to be certified 7x platinum.

1988 – The Dire Straits disband

2004 – Guitarist/songwriter Johnny Ramone dies of prostate cancer at his home in LA.  He was 55 years old.

Sources: The People History; This Day in Labor History; Wikipedia List of Historical Anniversaries; This Day in Women’s History; This Day in African History;History.com;History Orb; Yenoba; Selected Black Facts; Phil Konstantin’s North American Indian History; and This Day in Music