On September 10, 1991, Seattle rock band Nirvana releases its breakout single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” In just a few short months, a group that was a complete nonentity to the mainstream music-buying public would become one of the most important rock bands on earth. You either had to be part of a fairly small subculture ofContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1991- Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is released as a single.”
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History Lesson Tuesdays: Sam Houston Elected as President of Texas in 1836
On September 5, 1836, Sam Houston is elected as president of the Republic of Texas, which earned its independence from Mexico in a successful military rebellion. Born in Virginia in 1793, Houston moved with his family to rural Tennessee after his father’s death; as a teenager, he ran away and lived for several years with the Cherokee tribe. Houston servedContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: Sam Houston Elected as President of Texas in 1836”
History Lesson Tuesdays: Krakatoa explodes with massive force – 1883
One of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history occurs on Krakatoa (also called Krakatau), a small, uninhabited volcanic island east of Sumatra and west of Java, on August 27, 1883. Heard 3,000 miles away—and believed to have produced the loudest sounds in human history—the explosions threw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air,Continue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: Krakatoa explodes with massive force – 1883”
History Lesson Tuesdays: 1934 – Federal Prisoners Land On Alcatraz
A group of federal prisoners classified as “most dangerous” arrives at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre rocky outcrop situated 1.5 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay, on August 11, 1934. The convicts—the first civilian prisoners to be housed in the new high-security penitentiary—joined a few dozen military prisoners left over from the island’s days as a U.S. military prison.Continue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1934 – Federal Prisoners Land On Alcatraz”
History Lesson Tuesdays: 1945 – American bomber drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, the United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by theContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1945 – American bomber drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima”
History Lesson Tuesdays: 1965: President Johnson signs Medicare into Law
On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Medicare, a health insurance program for elderly Americans, into law. At the bill-signing ceremony, which took place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, former President Harry Truman was enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and received the first Medicare card. Johnson wanted to recognize Truman, who, in 1945, had become theContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1965: President Johnson signs Medicare into Law”
History Lesson Tuesdays: 1999 – Woodstock ’99 Begins
The music festival Woodstock ’99 opens on July 23, 1999. The festival—timed to the 30th anniversary of the original Woodstock—attempts to bring the spirit of peace, music, and love to a new generation; instead it devolves into three days of scorching heat, raw sewage, misogyny and greed in upstate New York. Woodstock ’99 was organized by John Scher and MichaelContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1999 – Woodstock ’99 Begins”
History Lesson Tuesday: The First Atomic Bomb Test is Successfully Exploded – 1945
On July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project yields explosive results as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Plans for the creation of a uranium bomb by the Allies were established as early as 1939, when Italian emigre physicist Enrico Fermi met with U.S. Navy department officials at Columbia University to discuss the useContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesday: The First Atomic Bomb Test is Successfully Exploded – 1945”
History Lesson Tuesdays: Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in 1776
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that would eventually encourage France’s interventionContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in 1776”
History Lesson Tuesdays: 1944 FDR Signs G.I. Bill
On June 22, 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill, an unprecedented act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of the armed services—known as G.I.s—for their efforts in World War II. As the last of its sweeping New Deal reforms, Roosevelt’s administration created the G.I. Bill (officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944) hoping to avoid a relapseContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1944 FDR Signs G.I. Bill”
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