September 11, 2001 - In memory of those who died on that date which is not yet history, but still a part of our present. And, in honor of those who were and are our heroes. Eleven years.
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September 1, 1937 - The U.S. Housing Act inaugurated the U.S Public Housing program
September 3, 1783 - The Treaty of Paris between the new United States and England was signed. It formally ended the American Revolution. It was signed by future Vice President and second President, John Adams on behalf of the new United States of America. He and Abigial were the first to live in what came to be called the White House.
Editor's Note: I recommend reading their correspondance which has been published in several books. I had the great honor of playing her in an historic pageant. She was a remarkable woman, one of many thousands of women who tended to home and farm and businesses during the American Revolution as they have done ever since. She has asked that her letters be burned, but they were not.
September 2, 1766 - James Forten who was a Revolutionary War soldiere and abolishionist was born.
September 4, 1853 - Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist, women's rights activist, Methodist preacher and author, addressed the American Anti-Slavery Society. She traveled the northeast speaking about emancipation and women's rights. Her birth name was Isabella Baumfree. Born enslaved in 1797 and bought and sold several times, she finally escaped in 1826. She took her new name in 1843. Ms. Truth died in 1883. New York abolished slavery in 1827. On July 4, 1827 the African-American community celebrated with a parade in New York City which then only consisted of Manhattan.
September 4, 1881 - Electricity came to some Manhattan homes and offices in Lower Manhattan when inventor Thomas A. Edison set up a steam-powered generator on Pearl Street. The wires were put underground along with telephone wires in Manhattan after "The Great Blizzard of 1888."
September 5, 1774 - The Continental Congress met in Philadelphia for the first time.
September 5, 1882 - The United States' first Labor Day parade was held in New York City.
September 5, 1898 - Sarah Emma Edmonds Seelye died. She was a nurse, Civil War soldier and spy. She enlisted in the Michigan voluntary infantry and masqueraded as a man for a year, calling herself Franklin Thompson. She served at the first Battle of Bull Run and also at Antietam. She also "disguised" herself as a woman and spied for the Union Army. Seelye then deserted and went on to be a nurse for the United States Christian Commission.
September 6, 1757 - The Marquis de Lafayette was born. He came to America to serve with George Washington in the American Revolution. Alexander Hamilton was the only one on Washington's staff who spoke French and he translated for Washington and the Frenchmen who joined us in our cause. The two men became friends.
Some years later when Lafayette was imprisoned during the French Revolution, his son, George Washington Lafayette, and his tutor, Festal, came here and lived with Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury. Mrs. Hamilton was a founder of the Orphan Asylum Society founded in 1806. Today it is Graham Windham, a child welfare agency.
September 10, 1608 - Capt. John Smith was elected the Council President of Jamestown, VA which was the first permanent English settlement in North America.
September 12, 1787 - The first African-American Masonic Lodge was organized.
September 13, 1970 - The first New York City Marathon was held.
September 15, 1776 - British forces entered and then occupied New York City (which then referred only to Manhattan). The occupation lasted for seven years. On September 21, 1776 a large part of Lower Manhattan was destroyed in what came to be called "The Great Fire of 1776." It is not known if it was arson or an accident. The British blamed the Patriots and they blamed the British.
September 15, 1850 - Singer Jenny Lind gave her first concert in the United States. Lind was born in Sweden and was given the nickname "The Swedish Nightingale." Lind became a prominent opera singer in Europe. She then came to the United States at the invitation of P.T. Barnum of circus fame!
Among the 93 concerts she gave, one was at Castle Garden in Lower Manhattan. Lind made $250,00 and donated some of the proceeds to charities. including the Orphan Asylum Society and the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, founded in 1797 by some of the same women who founded the OAS.
September 16, 1620 - The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean for the New World. There were 102 passengers aboard. It landed near what is now called Plymouth Rock in what is now Massachusetts.
September 18, 1865 - Richmond, VA was the site of an Equal Rights Meeting.
September 19, 1947 - Jackie Robinson was named Rookie of the Year. He played for the then named Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the first African-American to play in the major leagues since the 1880's.
September 21, 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman nominated to be theon the Supreme Court of the United States. She retired three years ago. The Court now has three women on it: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
September 22, 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the enslaved.
September 24, 1789 - Congress passed the Judiciary Act which established the Supreme Court and the rest of the federal court system.
September 28, 1787 - The Continental Congress sent the Constitution of the United States to the states for ratification.
I welcome your additions and thoughts.
HAPPY FALL TO ALL!!
Historically yours,
Phyllis