November 17: This Day In History

Today is,

–Earleist day on which NAtional Survivor of Suicide day can fall, while November 23 is the latest, celebrated on Saturday before Thanksgiving

–International Student’s Day, international

–Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day, Czech Republic and clovakia

Today is,

1511 – Spain an dEngland ally agains France.

1558 – Elizabeth era begins: Queen MaryI of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England.

1603 – English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes ontrial for treason.

1777 – Articles of Conferation are submitted to the states fro ratification.

1800 – The united States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C.

1820 – Captain Nathaniel Palmer beomes the first American to see Antartica

1855 – David Livingstone becomes the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present-day Zambia-Zimbabwe.

1856 – American old West: On the Sonoita River in Present-day southern Arizona, the United Sates Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase

1869 – In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated

1871 – The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York.

1903 – The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into tow groups: the Bolsheviks (Russian for “majority”) and Mensheviks (“minority”)

1911 – Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, which is the first black Greek-lettered organization founded at an American historically black college or university, was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.

1933 – US recognizes Soviet Union

1939 – Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal; Universities are closed and over 1200 Czech students are sent to concentration camps.  Since this event, International Students’ Day is celebrated in many countries, especially in the Czech Republic.

1947 – The screen actors guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

1950 – Lhmo Dondrub is officially named the 14th Dalai Lama

1962 – President John F. Kennedy dedicates Washington Dulles International Airport, serving the Washington D.C., region

1967 – Vietnam War: President Lyndon B. Johnson, addressees the nation, saying that although there is much remained to be done, “We are inflicting greater losses than we’re taking…We are making progress.”

1968 –  NBC outraged football fans by cutting away from the final minutes of a game to air a TV special, “Heidi,” on time.

1969 – Negotiators fro the Soiet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, Finland to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the  numbeer of strategic weapons on both sides.

1970 – Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai Massacre.

1973 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors “I am not a crook”

1980 – WHUT-TV, the first African American owned and operated public educational television station in the United States, began broadcasting. The station was founded as WHMM-TV before changing its call letters to represent Howard University Television in 1998. Since its founding, the station has won eleven Emmy Awards and today reaches over 2 million households in the greater Washington, D. C. area.

1982 – Duk Koo Kim dies from injuries sustained during a boxin match against Ray Mancini, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing.

1989 – Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police.  This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government.

1993 – North American Free Trade Agreement established

1997 – 62 people killed by Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut, known as the Luxor Massacre, the militants are killed by the police.

2003 – Arnold Schwarenegger was sworn in as governor of California

2010 – The first Guantanamo detainee to face civilian trial, Ahmend Ghailani, was convicted by federal jury in New York on one charge of conspiracy related to 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya andGhailani’s native Tanzania

Births

1503 – Angelo Bronzino, Italian painter (d.1572)

1685 – Pierre Gaultier La Verendrye, French-Canadian soldier, fur trader and explorer (d.1749)

1755 – Louis XVIII, ing of France (1814-24)

1834 – Nancy Green, storyteller, cook and one of the first African Americans hired to promote a corporate trademark, was born enslaved in Montgomery County, Kentucky. In 1890, Green was hired by the R. T. Davis Milling Company to represent Aunt Jemima for a ready-mixed, self-rising flour. In 1893, Green was introduced as Aunt Jemima at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois where it was her job to operate a pancake cooking display. Her personality and cooking ability made the display so successful that the company received over 50,000 orders and she received a medal and certificate from the Expo officials. After the Expo, Green was given a lifetime contract to adopt the Aunt Jemima moniker and promote the pancake mix. She traveled on promotional tours all over the country and gained the financial freedom to become an activist and engage in antipoverty programs. Green died September 23, 1923. In 1998, “Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima” was published. (thewright.org)

1895 – Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Mexican novelist (d.1966)

1895 – Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher and critic (d.1975)

1901 – Walter Hallstein, German academic and politician, 1st President of the European Commission (d. 1982).

1901 – Lee Strasber, Ukrainian-American actor and director (d. 1982)

1904 – Isamu Noguchi, American sculptor (d.1988)

1904 – William Henry Hastie, lawyer, judge, educator and civil rights advocate, was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hastie earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College in 1925, graduating first in his class and magna cum laude. He then earned his Bachelor of Laws degree and his Doctor of Judicial Science degree from Harvard Law School in 1930 and 1933, respectively. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Hastie to the United States District Court for the Virgin Islands, making him the first African American federal judge.

1907 – Israel Regardie, English occultist and author (d. 1985)

1944 – Samuel Leamon Younge, Jr., the first Black college student to die in the Civil Rights Movement, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. After receiving a medical discharge from the United States Navy, Youngeenrolled at Tuskegee Institute in 1965. He became involved in civil rights activities in his first semester. He was involved in the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League, a campus group organized by students to work on desegregating public facilities and lead voter registration drives. On January 3, 1966, Younge was shot to death after he tried to use the “Whites only” restroom at a Standard Oil gas station in Macon County, Alabama, becoming the first Black college student killed as a result of his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. After the shooting, the gas station attendant was not indicted for the crime untilNovember, 1966 and was acquitted by an all-White jury the next month. Younge’s story is told in “SammyYounge, Jr.: The First Black College Student to Die in the Black Liberation Movement” (1968).

1952 – Samuel Leamon Younge, Jr., the first Black college student to die in the Civil Rights Movement, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. After receiving a medical discharge from the United States Navy, Youngeenrolled at Tuskegee Institute in 1965. He became involved in civil rights activities in his first semester. He was involved in the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League, a campus group organized by students to work on desegregating public facilities and lead voter registration drives. On January 3, 1966, Younge was shot to death after he tried to use the “Whites only” restroom at a Standard Oil gas station in Macon County, Alabama, becoming the first Black college student killed as a result of his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. After the shooting, the gas station attendant was not indicted for the crime untilNovember, 1966 and was acquitted by an all-White jury the next month. Younge’s story is told in “SammyYounge, Jr.: The First Black College Student to Die in the Black Liberation Movement” (1968).

1964 – Susan Elizabeth rice, United States National Security Advisor, was born in Washington, D.C.

Deaths

1558 – Mary I of England (1516)\

1713 – Abraham van Riebeeck, South African Indonesian politician, governor-Genreal of the Dutch East Indies (b.1653)

1796 – Catherine the Great Russian wife of Peter III of Russia (b. 1729)

1865 – James McCune Smith, physician, abolitionist and author, died. Smith was born April 18, 1813 in New York City. After graduating from the African Free School, he attempted to attend several American colleges but was denied admission because of his race. Therefore, he attended the University of Glasgow in Scotland where he graduated at the top of his class with his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1835, his Master of Arts degree in 1836, and a medical degree in 1837. Upon his return to the United States in 1837, Smith became the first African American professionally trained physician in the country. In 1846, Smith was appointed the only doctor for the Free Negro Orphan Asylum where he worked for more than 20 years. He also opened what is believed the first Black pharmacy in the U. S. Smith was a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society and in 1850 was one of the key organizers of New York’s resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act.

1968 – Mervyn Peake, English poet, author, and illustrator (b. 1911)

1986 – Theodora Ann “Tidye” Pickett, the first African American woman to compete for the United States in the Olympic Games, died. Pickett was born November 3, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois. She was educated at Illinois State University. Pickett qualified for the U. S. team scheduled to compete at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games but was replaced at the last minute because of her race. She did compete at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, reaching the quarterfinals of the low hurdles before breaking her foot and was unable to continue. After retiring from track, Pickett served as principal of a school in East Chicago Heights, Illinois for 23 years. When she retired in 1980, the school was renamed in her honor.

1988 Esther Rolle, stage, film and television actress, died. Rolle was born November 8, 1920 in Pompano Beach, Florida. Her earliest roles were on the stage, including “The Blacks” (1962), “Day of Absence” (1965), “Man Better Man” (1969), and her most prominent role in the 1973 play “Don’t Play Us Cheap.” Rolle is best known for her role as Florida Evans on the television situation comedies “Maude” (1972-1974) and “Good Times” (1974-1979). In 1979, Rolle won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her role in “Summer of My German Soldier.” She also appeared in the films “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (1979), “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989), and “My Fellow Americans” (1996).