January 11th is

Milk Day *

Hot Toddy Day

Thank You Day

Step in Puddle ‘n Splash Day

Human Trafficking Awareness Day *

International Parity at Work Day *

Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day *

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MORE! Benito Juárez, Alice Paul and Jimi Hendrix, click 

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Canada –  Sir John A. Macdonald Day *

Micronesia – Kosrae: Constitution Day

Morocco – Independence Manifesto Day

Nepal – National Unity Day

Puerto Rico – Eugenio Hostos Birthday *

Western Sahara – Manifesto Day

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On This Day in HISTORY

1055 – Theodora Porphyrogenita becomes sole empress regnant of the Byzantine Empire, the last of the Macedonian line, after years of alternating exile and waxing and waning power and influence as co-ruler with her tempestuous and jealous sister Zoe and Zoe’s assorted husbands

1569 – First recorded state lottery in England is drawn, chartered by Queen Elizabeth I for “reparation of the havens and strength of the Realme, and towardes such other publique good workes”

1770 – The first shipment of rhubarb is sent to the U.S. from London

1759 – The Presbyterian Synod in Philadelphia creates the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers – the first U.S. ‘life insurance’ company

1787 – William Herschel discovers two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon

1805 – Michigan Territory, long-time bone of contention in struggles amongst the Northwestern plains tribes, the British and the United States, becomes a U.S. territory

1815 – Sir John A. Macdonald * is born, the first Prime Minister of Canada

1839 – Eugenio María de Hostos * born, writer-activist for Puerto Rican independence
and ending slavery

1861 – Alabama declares its secession from the United States

1867 – Benito Juarez returns to the Mexican presidency, following the withdrawal of French troops and the execution of Emperor Maximilian

1875 – Soviet Composer Reinhold Gliere, of German-Polish ancestry, is born in Kiev

1878 – The first day milk was delivered in glass bottles, celebrated as Milk Day *

1885 – Alice Paul born, suffrage leader/attorney, founded National Woman’s Party (1916), her innovative nonviolent strategies and political sophistication helped win passage of 19th Amendment (1920), initiated campaign for Equal Rights Amendment 

1902 – Popular Mechanics magazine is published for the first time

1908 – The Grand Canyon, after being made the Grand Canyon Forest Preserve (1893) and then the Grand Canyon Game Preserve (1906), becomes the Grand Canyon National Monument (it would finally become a full-fledged national park in 1919)

1912 – The Lawrence Textile workers ‘Bread and Roses’ Strike, led largely by women, begins – after an injunction against “loitering” in front of the mills designed to prevent strikers from picketing, they form the first moving picket lines in the U.S.

1913 – The Hudson Motor Company unveils the first sedan-type car at the National Automobile Show in New York City

1917 – The French government regulates Gruyere cheese price for war rationing

1922 – At Toronto General Hospital, Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to be successfully treated with insulin

1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles CA

1928 – Bing Crosby and Paul Whiteman’s orchestra record “Ol’ Man River” from the musical Showboat

1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California

1938 –  In Limerick, ME, Frances Moulton becomes the first woman bank president

1949 – The first recorded snowfall in Los Angeles CA

1957 – The African Convention, a French West African political party, is founded in Dakar, Senegal

1958 – Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges debuts on CBS-TV

1963 – The U.S. disco, the Whisky A Go-Go, opens in Los Angeles CA

1964 – U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States showing that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts

1964 – His Ring of Fire album makes Johnny Cash the first country singer to hit #1 on the U.S. pop album charts

1965 – The Beach Boys record “Do You Wanna Dance”

1967 – Jimi Hendrix records “Purple Haze”

1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh

1978 – Two Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 27 capsule link up with the Salyut 6 orbiting space station, where the Soyuz 26 capsule was docked

1980 – Nigel Short, age 14, from Bolton in Britain, becomes the youngest International Master in chess history

1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia officially opens

1988 – U.S.Vice President George Bush meets with representatives of independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh to answer questions about the Iran-Contra scandal

1991 –Silver and paintings acquired by the late Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, are auctioned for a total of $20.29 million at Christie’s in New York

1992 – Paul Simon becomes the first international star to perform in South Africa after the end of the United Nations cultural boycott

1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin

1996 – NASA space shuttle STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center at the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour

2000 – The U.S. Postal Service unveils the second Vietnam Veterans Memorial commemorative stamp in a ceremony at The Wall

2003 –  Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois’s death row because of the Jon Burge scandal – Burge was a Chicago police commander convicted of torturing confessions from over 200 suspects

2007 – U.S. Senate designates Human Trafficking Awareness Day * as a National Day

2012 – The Brownielocks Holidays website launches the first Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day * because the code is no longer required for a Ham Radio license, and its use is dying out – help keep this form of communication alive by learning your name

2017 – The first International Parity at Work Day * is launched to raise awareness of the need for workplace diversity, strengthening workplaces by including workers of all  genders, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and physical abilities. The World Economic Forum estimates it will take at least another 170 years to reach full global economic parity

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Visuals

• Human Trafficking Awareness Fact Sheet
• International Flags
• Theodora Porphyrogenita on Byzantine coin
• Replica of William Herschel’s telescope
• Alice Paul and the still unratified Equal Rights Amendment
• Popular Mechanics magazine – first issue
• Photo of the Grand Canyon dated 1908 – photographer not credited
• Winnie Byanyima – what is growth for quote

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