September 24: This Day In History

Today is,

Constitution Day, Cambodia

Heritage Day, South Africa

Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guinea-Bissau from Portugal in 1973

Republic Day, Trinidad and Tobago

On this day,

1664 – New Amsterdam is surrendered to the English by the Dutch. Charles II desired the colony for England as a gift for his brother James, Duke of York and Albany; and for the colonies sizeable and profitable fur trade.  On the 27th four English warships carrying roughly 400 soldiers arrived on the shores of New York bringing an order on behalf of the king.  The orders was brought to Peter Stuyvesant the Dutch governor of the New Amsterdam.  Stuyvesant was defiant at first but eventually accepted and and surrendered the territory, swearing allegiance to the British Crown.

1789 – The Judiciary Act is passed by the United States Congress, creating the US Attorney General and orders the composition of the United States Supreme Court.  Officially titled “An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States”.  The Act was signed into law on this day by President George Washington, and though it has been amended many times since 1787; the original outline for the court system remains largely in tact.

1906 – President Theodore Rossevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation’s frist National Monument.  The monument had been known and celebrated by Native Americans for hundreds of years.  The legend, which has been celebrated by the Crow, Kiowa, Apache, Cheyenne and Sioux, tells of seven little girls who were out playing when they came across a grizzly bear.  Coming to the realization that they would never be able to out run the great beast, the girls took refuge in a rock and prayed to the Great Spirit for protection.  Their prayers were answered as the rock began to grow around them.  Higher and Higher the rock grew, reaching the sky.  The striations on the side of the tower were formed by the bear it jumped and clawed at the rock trying to reach the little girls.  The Native name for Devil Tower is Mateo Teepee or Grizzly Bear Lodge.

1932 – Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkjar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Inidan provincial legislatures for the “Depressed Classes”.

1948 – Honda Motor Company is founded

1957 – Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe is opened in Barcelona

1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered federal troops of the 101st Airborne  to escort 9 African American students to Central High School, in Little Rock.  President Eisenhower had ordered National Guardsmen to Central HS three weeks earlier to keep order as an angry mob harassed and threatened the students (the first Black students to attend the school).  The guardsmen were dispersed by Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus in a brazen act of defiance of the federal government.   Eisenhower returned from his vacation in Newport, Rhode Island and addressed the nation on the evening of the 24th.  His tone was described as firm.  He explained “I could have spoken from Rhode Island, but I felt that in speaking from the house of Lincoln, of Jackson and of Wilson, my words would more clearly convey both the sadness I feel in the action I was compelled to take and the firmness with which I intended to pursue this course…” He went on to say “The very basis of our individual rights and freedoms is the certainty that the President and the Executive Branch of Government will support and insure the carrying out of the decisions of the Federal Courts, even, when necessary with all the means of the President’s command.”

1957 – Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field.  They move to Los Angeles the folowing year.

1962 – Mississippi governor Ross R. Barnet issued a proclamation for all state officials to prevent and obstruct the any enforcement of the courts decisions to admit James Meredith into the University of Mississippi.

1965 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Executive Order 11246, which charged the Seceratary of Labor the uphold the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive order 8802 (submitted by FDR to prohibit the discriminatory labor practices based on race, religion, nationality) and ensure equal opportunity employment within the federal government.

1968 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS

1968 – Swaziland joins the United Nations

1979 – CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.

1988 – Jackie Joyner – Kersee set a world heptathlon record, winning the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics

1996 – The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty is signed by representatives of 71 countries at the United Nations.  The treaty was signed by more than two-thirds of general assembly members but has not gone into affect as, many nations, including the United States have yet to ratify the treaty.  Article I of the treaty puts the obligation of the treaty forward:

1. Each State Party undertakes not to any out any nuclear test explosion or any other nuclear explosion, and to prohibit ad prevent any such nuclear explosion at any place under its jurisdiction.

2.Each State Party undertakes, furthermore, to refrain from causing, encouraging, or in any way participating in the carrying out of any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.

The United States is one of the countries that have yet to ratify the treaty citing, inter alia: that the treaty is ultimately unverifiable; treaty is dubious to enforce; stockpiles in the US would not be safe or reliable with out testing.

http://www.ctbto.org/the-treaty/

Birthdays

1755 – John Marshall, American congressman and 4th chief justice of the United States Supreme Court

1835 – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, abolitionist, supporter of women’s suffrage and poet was born on this day in Baltimore, MD.  She joined the American anti-slavery society in 1853 and became a lecturer with the group, traveling around the country and spreading the message of equality. in 1897 she was elected to the position of Vice President of the National Association of Colored Women.

1894 – Sociologist Edward Franklin Frazier  was born on this day in Baltimore, MD.  Frazier graduated magnumcume laude from Howard University in 1916.  Known for studies including 1957’s “Black Bourgeoisie” a study of African American middle class and their voluntary adoption and assimilation into white conservative culture and 1927’s “Pathology of Racial Prejudice.”

1931 – Claudis H. Collins, the first African American woman to represent the Midwest in Congress was born on this day in St. Louis, MO.

 1936 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer, inventor and artist was born on this day in Greenville, Mississippi.  He was raised in MD, where he earned his degree in home economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.  He founded the Jim Henson co. in 1958 and worked on commercials and small theatre projects before he joined Sesame Street in the 70’s.  He would stay on with Sesame Street for over 20 years creating memorable characters that were funny, scary, bold and brave.  His work on Sesame Street earned Henson the recognition that allowed him to go on branch out into film and television.  His work touched children and adults alike and the popularity of the Muppets say the creation of the Jim Henson Creature Shop, the Muppet Show and a slew of movies like Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal and multiple Muppet tv series and films.  Henson died in 1989 and his funeral was described by Life Magazine as “epic and almost unbearably moving”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson

1954 – Fashion designer , Patrick Kelly was born on this day in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

This day in music:

1954 – Sarah Vaughn records ‘Make Yourself Comfortable’

1958 – Tommy Edwards in No.1 with his single ‘It’s All in the Game’

1958 – The Platters record ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’

1966 – The Association are No.1 with their single ‘Cherish’

1977 – Styx release ‘Come Sail Away’

1983 – Billy Joel is No.1 with single ‘Tell Her About it’

1991 – Red Hot Chili Peppers release album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik which containing hit singles ‘Give it Away’ and ‘Under the Bridge’

1991- Nirvana release album, “Nevermind”

How Nirvana Made, Nevermind.  Rolling Stone