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September 2, 2014 – Segment 1
Marc talks about what happened on this day in history, including the day the United States Department of the Treasury was founded, the day Joseph W. Hatchett was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court, making him the first African American Supreme Court Justice in the South, and the birthday of artist Romare Bearden.
Today is
Democracy Day (Tibet)
National Day, celebrates the independence of Vietnam from Japan and France in 1945
On this day
47 BC –Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion
44 BC –Cicero launches the first of his Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony.
31 BC –Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium, off the western coast of Greece, Octavian’s forces defat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra
1192 –The Treaty of Jaffa was signed, bringing the Third Crusade to an end. The treaty was signed by King Richard I of England and Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria.
1666 –The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for 3 days, destroying over 10,000 buildings including St Paul’s Cathedral. The fire began on Pudding Lane in the bakery of Thomas Farynor, baker to King Charles II. As most of the buildings in London at the time were made of wood the fire spread quickly engulfing approximately 430 acres. Nearly 80 percent of the city was destroyed, and while loss of life was minimal, the destruction of property was enormous. 13,000 houses were destroyed, leaving well over half of the city’s residents homeless. There are only six recorded deaths attributed to the fire, but that figure is often disputed as it is widely believed that many of the poor residents of the city were not counted amongst the dead. Charles II commissioned the city to be redesigned with buildings made of brick rather than timber.
1752 –Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe
1789 –The United States Department of the Treasury is founded to manage the economy of the United Colonies and solve the problem of the massive war debt. Congress created the department on this day declaring “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be a Department of Treasury, in which shall be the following officers, namely: a Secretary of the Treasury, to be deemed head of the department; a Comptroller, an Auditor, a Treasurer, a Register, and an Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, which assistant shall be appointed by the said Secretary.” Alexander Hamilton was chosen as the first Secretary of the Treasure, having served as George Washington’s aide-de-camp during the revolution and his financial acumen. Hamilton took the oath of office on September 11th 1789.
1833 –Oberlin College in founded in Oberlin, Ohio by Presbyterian ministers John Jay Shipherd and Philp P. Stewart. The school has long been progressive ad was the first college in the United States to regularly admit African-American students, beginning in 1835.
1864 –American Civil War: General William T. Sherman’s forces enter Atlanta, Georgia, a day after the Confederate defenders flee the city, ending the Atlanta Campaign which began on May of the same year. The mayor of Atlanta, James Calhoun, surrendered the city to General Sherman on the 2nd of September. Great cheer rose in the north as news of Sherman’s victory reached the newspapers. General William T. Sherman, General Ulysses S. Grant were declared the exalted heroes of the north; and President Lincoln had all but assured re-election with the crucial victory in Atlanta.
1884 –John Perical Parker was awarded patent number 304,552 for the Follower-Screw for Tobacco Presses
1885 –Rock Springs massacre: Rock Springs Wyoming. On this day in Rock Springs Wyoming, Chinese miners were set upon by over 100 White miners, resulting in the destruction of property and loss of life within the small Chinese community in Rock Springs Wyoming. The Rock Spring Massacre of 1885 was the culmination of racial tension and unfair working conditions for miners; not to mention and discriminatory labor practices, unfair wages and exploitative policies on the part of Union Pacific Coal Department. The situation at Rock Springs centered on the Union Pacific’s policy of hiring Chinese laborers. The white miners, who were mostly Irish, Scandinavian, English and Welsh immigrants, solely worked the mines until 1875. After they went on strike in 1875 for better wages, the Union Pacific Coal Department introduced Chinese workers to the scheme to replace the striking white miners. By the time the coal mines resumed normal operation the Chinese outnumbered white laborers at 331 -150. The white immigrant laborers believed that the lower paid Chinese workers drove down their own wages and became a rallying cry to unify white workers behind the expulsion of the Chinese from the Rock Springs Mines. The town was attacked on the afternoon of the 2nd ofSeptember. 150 men armed with rifles, clubs, knives and pick axes ransacked the town looting and burning the homes of the Chinese workers. They were mercilessly. Some were murdered. Bodies were dismembered and burnt. There were three groups of rioters and they surrounded Chinatown blocking the path of any who tried to escape. Another mob was also dispatched to attack those who were working at the mines. 28 Chinese miners were recorded as dead thought the number is thought to be as high as 50. Following the massacre the 600 Chinese that remained in Rock Springs wanted to flee as soon as possible. After much protestation the Union Pacific lamented and boarded the miners onto a train they said was headed for San Francisco. The miners were tricked and after traveling overnight on the train, when the boxcars were opened they saw that they had been brought back to Rock Springs. The workers were ordered to bury their dead and return to work. Fearful for their lives many workers refused and were threatened by the Union Pacific, with eviction form their temporary boxcar homes and they were also refused food from the local shops. The majority of the Chinese workers returned to work. 16 white miners were arrested and released on bail for the crimes at Rock Springs. Nobody came forward to testify to having seen any crime and no charges were ever filed.
1901 –Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick” at the Minnesota State Fair
1945 –World War II: Combat ends in the Pacific Theater: the Instrument of Surrender of Japan is signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and accepted aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
1960 –The first election of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, in history of Tibet. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.
1963 –CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television’s first half hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes
1969 –North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh died. Ho Chi Minh led the revolution for independence and was a crucial part in the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. After the defeat of the French, the revolutionary devoted himself to creating a communist society in North Vietnam. Though his health was failing by the time war with the US had begun, Ho Chi Minh was still a major figure in the movement and was looked to as the embodiment of the revolution. His body is embalmed and is on display in the Mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi.
1975 –Joseph W. Hatchett was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court, making him the first African American Supreme Court Justice in the south. Hatchett was born in Clearwater, Florida on the 17th September 1932. He earned his bachelors from Florida A&M and received his law degree from Howard University School of Law. Hatchet worked with NAACP Legal Defense fund and in 1979 became the first African American to be appointed to the United State Court of Appeals for the 5thCircuit.
1983 –Arthur Huff Fauset, educator, anthropologist and author died. Fauset received his Master of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, but was discouraged from teaching at the university level because of his race. As a result he went on to become an elementary school principal, where he championed the causes of better working conditions for black teachers and Civil Rights for the poor and disadvantaged. In 1942 Faust received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of many essays and books including “Black Gods of the Metropolis: Negro Religious Cults of the Urban North.” Published in 1944.
1990 –Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void
1998 –The UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide
Birthday
1766 –James Forten, abolitionist and businessman, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1820 –Lucretia Hale, American novelist and writer of children’s books
1913 –Bill Shankly, Scottish footballer and manager
1924 –Daniel arap Moi, Kenya educator and politician, 2nd President of Kenya
1939 –Henry George, American economist and author
1850 –Eugene Field American author and poet
1850 –A.G. Spalding, American baseball player and sporting-goods manufacturer
1911 –Romare Bearden, artist and author was born in Charlotte, North Carolina
1941 –John R. Thompson, Jr, hall of fame basketball coach and the first African American head coach to win a NCAA Division 1 Championship, was born on this day in Washington, DC.
1955 –Pamela Gordon, the first female Premier of Bermuda, was born in Hamilton, Bermuda.
1965 –Lennox Claudius Lewis, hall of fame boxer, was born in London, England
This day in Music
1928-Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver, hall of fame jazz pianist, composer and bandleader was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1955 Silver along with Art Blakely, the band The Jazz Messengers. Silver was also a member of the Miles Davis All Stars. He was designated a NEA Jazz master in 1965.
1943 –Joe Simon, hall of fame rhythm and blues singer, was born in Simmesport, Louisiana.
1946 –William Everett “Billy” Preston, rhythm and blues singer and musician, was born in Houston Texas. In the 60’s he performed with Little Richard and Ray Charles. In 1965 he released his debut solo album, “The Most Exciting Organ Ever.”. He received the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance with the 1972 single “Outa-Space”. Preston also played keyboards for the Beatles and The Rolling Stones and was often referred to as “the Fifth Beatle”.
1963 –The Angels become the first white all-female group to have a No.1 record with the song “My Boyfriend’s Back”.
1964 –Rolling Stones record their cover of the Willie Dixon song ‘Little Red Rooster’ at Regent Sound Studios in London, England
1965 –John Coltrane records “First Meditation for Quartet.”
1976 –Grand Master Flash and The Furious Five, became the first rap act to play a theater when they do their first major gig at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.
2008 –Rage Against the Machine and group of nearly 3,000 march to the Republican National Convention where the band performed an impromptu concert.
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
