July 28^th is

Buffalo Soldiers Day *

Milk Chocolate Day

Talk in an Elevator Day

Waterpark Day

World Hepatitis Day *

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MORE!  Thomas Cromwell, Beatrix Potter and Marcel Duchamp, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Canada – Vancouver: Spirit of the
People Powwow (opening day)

Faroe Islands – Olavsoka Eve
(eve of St Olav’s Day, patron saint)

Peru – Día de la Independencia

San Marino – Fall of Fascism Anniversary

Spain – Día de las Instituciones

Switzerland – Verbier Festival
(Classical Music – through August 4)

Thailand – King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun’s birthday

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On This Day in HISTORY

1364 – The Republic of Florence renews its determination after suffering a defeat at Valdinievole in a battle with Republic of Pisa troops under the command of mercenary John Hawkwood, and wins a resounding victory against Pisa at the Battle of Cascina

1456 – Jacopo Sannazzaro born, Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist; noted for Arcadia, a poetical prose work

1540 – Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister, is executed for treason, and 49-year-old Henry VIII takes teenager Catherine Howard as his fifth wife – she is beheaded for treason 19 months later for committing adultery

1609 – Judith Leyster born, Dutch painter during the ‘Golden Age’ of Dutch painting; her work was forgotten until 1893, when the Louvre purchased a purported ‘Frans Hals’ painting which turned out to a Judith Leyster painting

Self-Portrait by Judith Leyster, circa 1630

1794 – At the end of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris

1809 – Wellington’s British/Iberian troops defeat French at Battle of Talavera

1821 – José de San Martín declares Peru’s independence from Spain

1854 – The last all-sail U.S. Navy warship, USS Constellation, is commissioned

1855 – Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer, American philanthropist, art collector and patron, feminist and advocate for women’s suffrage, supporter of Alice Paul and patron of Edgar Degas

1866 – Beatrix Potter born, beloved English author-illustrator of Peter Rabbit and other children’s storybooks, naturalist and conservationist of the English Lake District

1866 – Buffalo Soldiers Day *- The U.S. Congress recognizes the contributions of the more than 180,000 black Americans who fought to preserve the Union during the Civil War, by establishing six regular Army regiments of black enlisted soldiers. Of those six units, the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments become two of the most highly decorated units in American military history

Buffalo Soldiers Charge by Frank McCarthy

1866 – U.S. Congress votes to commission Vinnie Ream to sculpt a statue of Abraham Lincoln for the U.S. Capitol Rotunda; she is 18 years old, the youngest woman artist to receive a U.S. government commission

1867 – Charles Dillon Perrine born, American astronomer

1868 – The 14^th Amendment to U.S. Constitution is certified, establishing citizenship of black males, and giving them the right to vote and guaranteeing them due process of law

1874 – Alice Duer Miller, American author and poet, suffragist, known for satirical poems in her collection Are Women People? and the novel Come Out of the Kitchen

1879 – Lucy Burns born, American suffragist and women’s rights advocate, formed the National Woman’s Party with Alice Paul

1893 – Rued Langgaard born, Danish late-Romantic composer and organist

1896 – Miami FL becomes an incorporated city

1901 – Harry Bridges born in Australia, American labor leader

1901 – Rudy Vallee born, American singer and bandleader

1907 – Earl Tupper born, American inventor of Tupperware plastic containers

1908 – Dame Annabelle Rankin, Australian politician, second woman member of the Australian Senate, first woman from Queensland to sit in the Parliament, first woman appointed as Opposition Whip in the Senate, first Australian woman to have a feral portfolio (cabinet position) and first to head a foreign mission, to New Zealand

1909 – Malcolm Lowry born, English novelist, short story writer and poet

1909 – Aenne Lemminger Burda born, German publishing executive of the Burda media group; she expands its publications into the women’s magazine market, launching Burda Moden in 1950 and Burda CARINA in 1977

1914 – Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, igniting WWI

1915 – U.S. begins a 20-year occupation of Haiti

1917 – The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Silent Protest Parade in New York City

1929 – Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis born, cultural icon; First Lady and widow of John F. Kennedy, then married to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis; book editor for Doubleday and advocate for historic buildings preservation

1932 – President Hoover orders U.S. Army troops to evict WWI “Bonus Army” from DC

1935 – First flight of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

1932 – Natalie Babbit born, American author-illustrator of children’s and YA books; Tuck Everlasting and The Eyes of the Amaryllis

1939 – Judy Garland records Over the Rainbow for The Wizard of Oz

1939 – An Anglo-Saxon helmet is discovered during the excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, one of the most important artifacts ever found

1945 – U.S Senate votes 89-2 to ratify the United Nations Charter; President Truman declares, “The action of the Senate substantially advances the cause of world peace.”

1951 – Disney’s animated movie Alice in Wonderland is released

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson orders an increase of U.S. troops in Viet Nam from 75,000 to 125,000

1967 – President Lyndon Johnson appoints Illinois Governor Otto Kerner as chair of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, called the Kerner Commission, to investigate the causes of the 1967 U.S. race riots in Los Angeles, Chicago and Newark, and make recommendations for preventing riots in the future

1973 – Summer Jam at Watkins Glen rock festival attracts 600,000 attendees

1984 – Summer Olympics (XXIII Olympiad) Opening Ceremonies in Los Angeles CA

1996 – “Kennewick Man”- prehistoric remains found near Kennewick, WA

1998 – Bell Atlantic and GTE announce a $52 billion merger that creates Verizon

2004 – The Democratic National Convention in Boston nominates Massachusetts Senator John Kerry for president

2005 – Provisional Irish Republican Army ends its 30-year Northern Ireland campaign

2009 – Tanzania Banking for Women opens in Dar es Salaam

2009 – The Senate Judiciary Committee approves Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court

2016 – World Hepatitis Day * becomes part of the campaign by the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent and control Viral Hepatitis; two resolutions on Viral Hepatitis have been adopted by the World Health Assembly, in 2010 and in 2014

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