History Lesson Tuesdays: Memorial Day

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2023 will occur on Monday, May 29.  Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holidayContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: Memorial Day”

History Lesson Tuesdays: Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. May 23, 1934

On May 23, 1934, notorious criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police while driving a stolen car near Sailes, Louisiana. Bonnie Parker met the charismatic Clyde Barrow in Texas when she was 19 years old and her husband (she married when she was 16) was serving time in jail for murder. Shortly after theyContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. May 23, 1934”

History Lesson Tuesday: May 16, 1985. Discovery of Ozone Hole announced.

In the scientific journal Nature on May 16, 1985, three scientists from the British Antarctic Survey announce their detection of abnormally low levels of ozone over the South Pole. Their discovery, commonly known as the Ozone Hole, became a palpable example of mankind’s ability to damage the Earth’s atmosphere as well as one of the most famousContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesday: May 16, 1985. Discovery of Ozone Hole announced.”

History Lesson Tuesday: 1960 FDA Approves “The Pill”.

On May 9, 1960, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the world’s first commercially produced birth-control pill—Enovid-10, made by the G.D. Searle Company of Chicago, Illinois. Development of “the pill,” as it became popularly known, was initially commissioned by birth-control pioneer Margaret Sanger and funded by heiress Katherine McCormick. Sanger, who opened the first birth-control clinicContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesday: 1960 FDA Approves “The Pill”.”

This Day In History: Hitler Admits Defeat 1945

On April 22, 1945, Adolf Hitler, learning from one of his generals that no German defense was offered to the Russian assault at Eberswalde, admits to all in his underground bunker that the war is lost and that suicide is his only recourse.  Almost as confirmation of Hitler’s assessment, a Soviet mechanized corps reaches Treuenbrietzen, 40 miles southwestContinue reading “This Day In History: Hitler Admits Defeat 1945”

History Lesson Tuesdays: Alcatraz Closes it Doors for Good. March 21, 1963

The Closing of an Icon After two decades of intense scrutiny relating to operating costs and confinement practices, on Thursday, March 21, 1963, the end of an era arrived with the official closure of Alcatraz. The physical structures on Alcatraz were indicating wear and tear that would cost the government millions of dollars to keepContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: Alcatraz Closes it Doors for Good. March 21, 1963”

History Lesson Tuesday: Malcolm X assassinated.

February 21, 1965: In New York City, Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, is assassinated while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. He was 39.  Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925, Malcolm was the son of James Earl Little, a Baptist preacher who advocated the Black nationalistContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesday: Malcolm X assassinated.”

History Tuesdays: St. Valentine beheaded in 270 A.D.

On February 14, around the year 270 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, is said to have been executed. Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having aContinue reading “History Tuesdays: St. Valentine beheaded in 270 A.D.”

History Lesson Tuesdays: 1.27.2023 Auschwitz is Liberated

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing the survivors of the network of concentration camps—and finally revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there. Auschwitz was really a group of camps, designated I, II, and III. There were also 40 smaller “satellite” camps. It was at Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, established inContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1.27.2023 Auschwitz is Liberated”

How FDR Became the First -and Only- President to Serve Four Terms

by Lesley Kennedy On November 5, 1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt broke a long-held precedent—one that started with George Washington—when he became the first president elected to a third term. Roosevelt would go on to vie for, and win, yet a fourth term, taking office again on January 20, 1945. FDR was the first, and last, president to winContinue reading “How FDR Became the First -and Only- President to Serve Four Terms”