September 20th is

Rum Punch Day

Rehabilitation Awareness Day

School Backpack Awareness Day *

String Cheese Day – new!

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MORE! Saladin, Libby Smith Miller and James Meredith, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Judaism – Erev Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year’s Eve)

France – Chaumont-sur-Loire:
International Garden Festival

Germany – Hamburg: Reeperbahn Festival

Greece – Athens: International Film Festival

India – Telangana: First Day of Bathukamma
(Telengana Hindu women’s floral festival)

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On This Day in HISTORY

622 – Muhammad and Abu Bakr arrive in Medina

1058 – Regent of the Holy Roman Empire Agnes of Poitou meets with Andrew I of Hungary to resolve a border-zone dispute concerning Burgenland

Henry III on left, Agnes of Poitou in center, from Codex Aureus

1187 – Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem

1596 – Diego de Montemajor founds the city of Monterrey in Alta California

Foundation-of-Monterrey – mosaic mural by Joaquin Mora

1737 – The ‘Walking’ Treaty, based on how far a man could walk in a given time, is signed – Sons of William Penn claim 1,200,00 acres of land, showing the Lenape (also known as the Delaware) Tribe an unsigned, possibly forged, deed dated 1686, which the Lenape reluctantly accept when they are shown a distorted map of the area, and then their appeal to the Iroquois for aid is refused

1822 – Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Smith Miller born, author, suffragist and financial supporter of the women’s movement; creator of the “bloomer costume” named after Amelia Bloomer who first exhibited it in her magazine, The Lily

1831 – Kate Harrington born, teacher, author of children’s books and educational materials; pioneer in developing a sequential reading program, with emphasis on phonics, complete with a separate teacher’s manual and spelling and reading books; noted for innovative use of music and reading materials geared to children’s interests

1842 – Sir James Dewar born, inventor of the Dewar flask, the first insulated bottle

1848 – The American Association for the Advancement of Science is founded in Philadelphia PA with William C. Redfield as its first president

1859 – George B. Simpson patents an electric range

1861 – Herbert Putnam born, American longest-serving Librarian of Congress (1899-1939), under eight U.S. Presidents, undertaking a massive reorganization of the library’s materials which took 25 years to complete, while adding many new books to create a universal collection in many languages; the system of classifying books which he introduces, now known as the Library of Congress Classification, is still in use

1870 – Italian troops take control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy

1878 – Upton Sinclair born, author and crusader for social reforms, from clean meat to trade unionism and abolition of child labor, birth control, Socialism, morality in business and industry, education reform and civil liberties; his novel The Jungle is instrumental in passage of the first U.S. pure-food statute; is awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for Dragon’s Teeth

1884 –The Equal Rights Party forms in San Francisco CA, nominating Belva Lockwood and Marietta Snow as the party’s candidates for President and Vice President

1884 – Maxwell Perkins born, American book editor, credited with discovering Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe

1888 – Sue S. Dauser born, serves as a Navy nurse from 1917 until her appointment as Superintendent of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps during WWII; retires in 1945

1890 – Blues musician ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton is born

1893 – Charles Edgar Duryea road-tests his “motor wagon,” the first gasoline-powered automobile, with his brother Frank in Springfield MA

1899 – Leo Strauss born in Germany, American political philosopher, lecturer and writer; political science professor at University of Chicago

1902 – Stevie Smith born, English poet, novelist and short story writer

1904 – Orville & Wilbur Wright fly in a circle for the first time, in their Flyer II

1906 –The Cunard Line launches RMS Mauretania in Newcastle upon Tyne, England

1909 – The British Parliament passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from British Colonies: Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony

1922 – Alfred Goodman and Harold Atteridge’s The Passing Show of 1922, a musical revue, opens at NYC’s Winter Garden Theatre

1923 – Geraldine Clinton Little born in Northern Ireland, American author, playwright,  poet and singer; her book-length poem Hakugai (Persecution) is based on the Japanese-American internment during WWII, but her best-known work is her historical play Heloise and Abelard; sang with the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia

1927 – Colette Bonheur born, French Canadian singer

1934 – Sophia Loren born, International Film Star, first to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for a performance in a non-English language in the film Two Women

1937 – Birgitta Dahl born, Swedish Social Democratic Party politician: Member of Parliament (1969- 2002; Minister for Energy Affairs (1982-1990); Minister for the Environment (1986- 1991); Speaker of the Parliament (1994- 2002). Since 2005, chair of the Swedish section of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

1938 – Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Suite for Jazz Orchestra #2, premieres

1946 – Opening day of first Cannes Film Festival, 18 nations represented, after being delayed from 1939 by WWII. The films shown include David Lean’s Brief Encounter, Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend, Roberto Rossellini’s Open City, and René Clement’s The Battle of the Rails

1954 – The first program written in FORTRAN is run. IBM develops this general-purpose computer programming language, but the FORTRAN compiler won’t be delivered until three years later; still in use for engineering and scientific applications

1962 – James Meredith, a black student, is blocked from enrolling at University of Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett, but later admitted, escorted by U.S. Marshalls

1967 – The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) is launched

1973 – Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in ‘The Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas

1977 – The first “boat people” arrive in San Francisco from Southeast Asia under a new U.S. resettlement program

1989 – F.W. de Klerk is sworn in as president of South Africa

1995 – U.S. House of Representatives votes to drop the national speed limit, allowing states to decide their own speed limits

2011 – School Backpack Awareness Day * – The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) offers tips on how to choose the right backpack and keeping the load light in order to avoid pain and injury – for downloadable information, including info on purses, briefcases and luggage: https://www.aota.org/Conference-Events/Backpack-Safety-Awareness-Day/Handouts.aspx

2011 – Repeal of the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise takes effect, allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly

West Point graduate/LGBT activist Dan Choi removes symbolic ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ duct tape

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