February 20th is

Cherry Pie Day

Handcuff Day *

Love Your Pet Day

World Day for Social Justice *

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MORE! Jimmy Yancey, Sidney Poitier and Nancy Wilson, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Iran – Martyrdom
of Hazrat Fatemen

United States – Chicago IL:
Black History Month Film Festival

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On This Day in HISTORY

1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark, betrothed to James III of Scotland for 12 years before their wedding in 1469, when she is 13 years old

James III and Margaret, on the 1562 Froman Armorial –
Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland, by Hugo van der Goes

1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, the first British monarch to be raised as a Protestant

1673 – The first recorded wine auction takes place in London

1763 – Adalbert Gyrowetz born, Bohemian composer; Viennese Vice-kapellmeister of the Court Theatre; a pallbearer at Beethoven’s funeral

1792 – U.S. President George Washington signs the Postal Service Act that creates the U.S. Post Office

1805 – Angelina Grimké Weld born, American abolitionist, suffragist and political activist; with her sister Sarah, only known white Southern women to take active part in the abolitionist movement; her essays and speeches are incisive arguments for ending slavery and advancing women’s rights

1809 – U.S. Supreme Court rules that the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state

1829 – Yuengling Brewery in Pennsylvania opens, the oldest U.S. brewery still operating

1839 – The U.S. Congress prohibits dueling in the District of Columbia

1844 – Joshua Slocum born in Nova Scotia, American sailor, adventurer and author;  first person to sail single-handedly around the world, aboard his sloop, Spray; his book about the voyage, Sailing Alone Around the World, became an international best seller

1869 – The Tennessee legislature gives Governor William G. Brownlow the power to declare martial law in any country necessary to curb the violence of the Ku Klux Klan, who was terrorizing any black freedmen attempting to vote, and any freed people assuming leadership in their communities, or trying to set up schools; a Cincinnati private detective, hired to infiltrate the Klan and gather names of members, is found murdered on this date, and the governor declares martial law in nine counties, but when he resigns five days later to fill a seat in the U.S. senate, Nathan Bedford Forrest, believing their cause won, tells Klan members to destroy their robes

Upper right insert: Governor William G. Brownlow

1872 – Cyrus W. Baldwin patents an electric elevator, installed in NYC’s Stephens Hotel

1872 – Silas Noble and J.Cooley of Massachusetts patent a toothpick-making machine

1872 – NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art opens

1873 – The University of California got its first Medical School

1890 – Hershel Geguzin, born in Lithuania, Hollywood restaurateur and professional impostor, posing as Russian Prince Michael Alexandrovich Dmitri Oblensky Romanoff; Romanoff’s restaurant in Beverly Hills attracted Hollywood stars and millionaires

1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston born, American psychologist, attorney and author; co-developer of the systolic blood-pressure test used to detect deception (predecessor of the polygraph), and one of the inspirations for her husband William Moulton Marston’s comic book character, Wonder Woman

Elizabeth Holloway Marston (yes, those are wings on her hat) –
and on a beach with husband William Moulton Marston

1893 – Gabrielle Petit born, Belgian Red Cross volunteer and spy for the British Secret Service during WWI, arrested by the German military and executed by firing squad

1898 – Jimmy Yancey born, American blues pianist

1901 – Rene Dubos born in France, American microbiologist, environmentalist and author

1901 – The first territorial legislature of Hawaii convenes

1902 – Katharine Way born, earned Ph.D. in nuclear theory at University of North Carolina (1938), developed Way-Wigner formula for fission produced decay; concern for health of retirees led to Durban Seniors for Better Health in the City of Medicine

1902 – Ansel Adams born, noted photographer of the American West

Moonrise, one of the most famous Ansel Adams photographs

1910 – Konstantin Sergeyev born, Russian ballet dancer, director, and choreographer

1912 – Handcuff  Day * – George Carney patents a new type of handcuff, now standard police issue

1921 – The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is released starring Rudolph Valentino

1926 – Dame Gillian Lynne born, British ballerina, choreographer and theatre-television director; choreographer for Cats and The Phantom of the Opera

1927 – Sidney Poitier born in the Bahamas, American actor and film star, film director and author; first black actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for Lilies in the Field

A Raisin in the Sun (1961) – Claudia MacNeil with Sidney Poitier

1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith born, American diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland (1993-1998), made on honorary citizen of Ireland in 1998 in recognition of her aid in the Northern Ireland peace process; founder of Very Special Arts; received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011

1931 – The U.S. Congress grants California the right to build the Oakland Bay Bridge as a toll-bridge as part of Interstate 80

1933 – The U.S. House of Representatives completes congressional action on the amendment to repeal Prohibition.

1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen, Danish explorer with her husband on a Norwegian expedition, becomes the first woman to stand on an Antarctic island, five miles off the coast of Antarctica

1935 – Ellen Gilchrist born, American author and poet; winner of the 1984 National Book Award for her short story collection, Victory Over Japan

1937 – Nancy Wilson born, African American blues, jazz, and R&B song stylist; three-time Grammy Award winner

1938 – British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden resigned in protest over Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini

1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie born, Canadian-American Cree singer-songwriter, producer, and social activist, founder of the Cradleboard Teaching Project

1952 – The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn opens in New York City

1958 – Buddy Holly’s first official solo album “Buddy Holly” is released by Coral Records

1962 – John Glenn makes space history, the first American to orbit the world, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule; he sees the Devil’s Cigarette Lighter, a natural gas well fire in the Sahara, while in flight

1963 – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou born, Greek lawyer and politician; Member of Greek Parliament (2004-2007); Minister for Health and Social solidarity (2009-2010)

1965 – Ranger 8 crashes on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of its surface

1971 – Calpurnia Addams born, American author, performer and activist for transgender fights; co-founder of Deep Stealth Productions in Hollywood

1988 – Rihanna born, R&B singer from Barbados, more than 20 million albums sold, Billboard record for youngest solo artist with eleven #1 singles

1992 – Ross Perot announces he is running for U.S. President

2005 – Spain becomes the first country to hold a referendum on ratifying the proposed Constitution of the European Union; it is approved by the majority of voters

2007 – World Day for Social Justice * is proclaimed by the UN General Assembly

2009 – Hershey’s, largest U.S. candy maker, closes its candy factory in Reading PA, which produced Zagnut, York Peppermint Pattie, and 5th Avenue candy bars, among others. Hershey’s factory in Monterey, Mexico is now producing these products; many of them are no longer made with real chocolate

2012 – Scientists report regenerating specimens of Silene stenophylla from a 31,800 year old piece of fruit, greatly surpassing the previous record for oldest plant successfully regenerated

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