August 1, 1770 - William Clark of
the Lewis and Clark expedition fame, was born. They explored the lands
purchased from France called "The Louisiana Purchase."
August 1, 1781 - British forces,
numbering 10,000 under General Cornwallis' comand occupied Yorktown,
VA. The battle that followed was won by the Patriots, but it took two
years for the peace Treaty between England and the new United States to be
drawn up and signed.
August 1, 1785 - Caroline
Herschel discovered a comet, probably the first woman to do so. Herschel was
born in Germany, but later joined her older brother in England. He was
Astronomer to King George III. She became his assistant and discovered several
comets. One is named for her: 35P/Herschel-Rigollet. George III put her on his
payroll for fifty pounds a year as William's assistant.
August 1, 1779 - Francis Scott
Key, who wrote "The Star Spangled Banner," was born.
August 1, 1818 - Maria
Mitchell was born. She too was an astronomer and she discovered a comet in 1847.
She was taught by her father and assisted him from the age of twelve. She
taught at Vassar.
August 2, 1850 - The Underground
Railroad was started by William Still.
August 5, 1876 - Mary Ritter
Beard, an historian, archivist, women's suffrage activist and
reformer, was born. She was married to the historian Charles Beard and they
wrote books together. Beard worked for the New York Suffrage Party
and the World Center for Women's Archives.
August 6, 1965 - President Lyndon
B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Bill into law.
August 7, 1907 - Dr.
Ralph J. Bunche, the first African-American Nobel Peace Prize
winner, was born. He later served in the Department of State and in
several positions at the United Nations. See below.
August 9, 1974 - President
Richard M. Nixon resigned, the first and only president to so do, in the
wake of the Watergate scandal and cover-up.
August 9, 1978 - President Jimmy
Carter signed a $1.6 billion bailout for New York City.
August 10 ,1989 - Then Gen.
Colin Powell was nominated to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
the first African-American to hold that position. He later served as Secretary
of State.
August 10, 1993 - Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, Esq. was sworn in by President William J. Clinton as a Supreme
Court Justice becoming only the second woman and the first Jewish woman to
serve on the Court. There are now three women Supreme Court Justices.
August 14, 1863 - President Abraham
Lincoln welcomed and spoke to an African-American audience in the
White House.
August 14, 1935 - President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.
It was part of the New Deal, following the "Great Depression."
August 17, 1807 - The Clermont, Robert
Fulton's steamboat, made its first trip, traveling from Manhattan up the Hudson
River to Albany, ushering in a transformative era in transportation and
commerce. It was not the first steamboat, but it was the first commercially
successful one in the United States.
August 17, 1978 - Three Americans
landed outside Paris, completing the first successful crossing of the
Atlantic Ocean in a balloon. The trip from Maine to France took six days.
August 18, 1774 - Meriwether Lewis,
Clark's partner, was born.
August 19, 1893 - Designer and taste
maker Coco Chanel was born. She revolutionized the way women dress in
the years after World War II and had a great influence on haute couture. Chanel
was the only person in her industry to be in Time Magazine's 100
most influential people of the 20th century.
August 19, 1933 - Service began on
the IND subway in New York City.
August 19, 1954 - Dr. Bunche
was named Undersecretary of the United Nations.
August 21, 1959 - Hawaii became
the 50th state.
August 22, 1893 - Writer and
humorist Dorothy Parker was born. She was one of a group of prominent
writers who met at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan and sat at the famous
"Round Table." Parker was one of the writers for the
script of the 1937 "A Star is Born," starring
Janet Gaynor. A 1954 musical version starred Judy Garland. She wrote
for various publications. Barbra Streisand starred in the 1976
version.
Editor's Note: one of my aunts worked in publishing and had lunch with her
a few times at the "Round Table"!
August 23, 1956 - Elvis
Presley's recording of "Hound Dog" topped the charts.
August 24,1814 - British
forces marched into Washington, D. C. during the War of 1812. When
First Lady, Dolley Madison fled the White House, she took the famous Gilbert
Stuart portrait of George Washington with her. The White House and the
Library of Congress were burned. In 2003, Tony
Blair, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, in a speech to the U. S.
Congress, apologized!
August 25, 1928 - Admiral Richard
Byrd left on an expedition to the South Pole on the ice breaker the
"City of New York."
August 26, 1920 - The 19th
Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was ratified. It granted women the
right to vote. This was the end of a long road which began with a Women's
Rights meeting in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. President Woodrow
Wilson had announced his support for women's suffrage in 1918.
August 26, 1935 - Geraldine Ferraro,
a lawyer, teacher and writer who was the first woman nominated to
be Vice President of the United States, was born. She served in the
House of Representatives. She was also the first Italian-American to be
on a ticket. Ferraro ran on the ticket with Vice President Walter
Mondale in 1984. They lost to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Ms.
Ferraro died in March of this year.
August 26, 1971 - Congress
recognized this date as "Women's Equality Day." On this
date in 1920. Congress passed the 19th amendment to the Constitutution giving
women the right to vote.
August 28, 1963 - The Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his renowned "I Have a Dream"
speech in Washington, D, C. before many , many thousands of people. It is known
as "The March on Washington, D.C."
August 31, 1774 - John and Sam
Adams, cousins, arrived in Philadelphia as delegates to the Continental
Congress.
August 31, 1803 - Lewis set
out from Pittsburgh on the first leg of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He
joined up with Clark on October 13th. The goal was to explore the
Louisiana Purchase territory which had been bought from France. Their guides
included a part Native American fur trapper and his Native American wife, Sacagawea.
She was the translator for part of the journey as well as a guide.
I welcome your comments, additions
and suggestions.
Happy Rest of Summer!
Phyllis aka Lady History