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”
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History Lesson Tuesday: December 5, 1933. The End of Prohibition in America.
The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America. At 5:32 p.m. EST, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, achieving the requisite three-fourths majority of states’ approval. Pennsylvania and Ohio had ratified it earlier in the day. The movement for the prohibition of alcohol began inContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesday: December 5, 1933. The End of Prohibition in America.”
History Lesson Tuesdays: 1877 Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph.
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a way to record and play back sound. Edison stumbled on one of his great inventions—the phonograph—while working on a way to record telephone communication at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. His work led him to experiment with a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder, which, to hisContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: 1877 Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph.”
Jimmy Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize
On October 11, 2002, former President Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter, a peanut farmer from Georgia, served one term as U.S. president between 1977 and 1981. One of hisContinue reading “Jimmy Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize”
Work Begins on Mount Rushmore
October 4, 1927 On October 4, 1927, sculpting begins on the face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota. It would take another 12 years for the granite images of four of America’s most revered presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt—to be completed. The monument was the brainchild of a South Dakota historian namedContinue reading “Work Begins on Mount Rushmore”
History Lesson Tuesdays: Massacre at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
During the 1972 Summer Olympics at Munich, in the early morning of September 5, a group of Palestinian terrorists storms the Olympic Village apartment of the Israeli athletes, killing two and taking nine others hostage. The terrorists were part of a group known as Black September, in return for the release of the hostages, they demandedContinue reading “History Lesson Tuesdays: Massacre at the Munich Olympics in 1972.”
True Crime Sundays: Son of Sam Serial Killer is Arrested
Photo Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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 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 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”