February 23rd is

Banana Bread Day

Diesel Engine Day *

Dog Biscuit Day

Curling is Cool Day

Digital Learning Day *

____________________________________________

MORE! Louis Stokes, Haki Madhubuti and Constance Baker Motley, click

____________________________________________

WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Brunei – National Day

Guyana – Mashramani
(Republic/National Day)

Kyrgyzstan –
Homeland Defender’s Day

Russia –
Motherland Defender’s Day

Tajikistan – Army Day

Transdniestria –
Motherland Defender’s Day

____________________________________________

On This Day in HISTORY

532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia, to replace the church that was burned down during the Nika riots

1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type

1574 – France begins the 5th holy war against the Huguenots

1633 – Samuel Pepys born, English diarist and naval administrator

1648 – John Blow born, English Baroque composer, organist at Westminster Abbey

1660 – Karl XI (in English,  Charles IX) becomes King of Sweden at age 17; he  strengthens the military and the navy; oversees a major financial overhaul of the government and improvement of country’s shaky economy; but he also imposes required attendance at Sunday sermons of the Lutheran Church, Sweden’s state religion, and requires all commoners to learn to read Archbishop Svebilius’ catechism; his reign is marked by 20 years of peace

1685 – George Frideric Handel born in Germany, Baroque composer, spent most of his life in England composing and performing, often for British royalty; became a British citizen in 1726; his oratorios made the format very popular in London; he continued to compose and oversee productions of his work right up to his death in 1759, in spite of two strokes, the loss of sight in his left eye in 1750, and total blindness by 1752

1778 – Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge PA to help train the Continental Army during the American Revolution

1792 – The Humane Society of Massachusetts is incorporated

1813 –First U.S. raw cotton-to-cloth mill was founded in Waltham MA

1820 – The Cato Street conspiracy is uncovered, an attempt to assassinate all British cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, because of the Six Acts suppression of all meetings for the purpose of radical reform, and harsh economic times

1821 – The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries establishes the first pharmacy college

1822 – Boston incorporates as a city

Boston Court House, built in 1813, on School Street

1836 – In San Antonio TX the siege of the Alamo begins

1839 – In Boston MA, William F. Harnden organizes the first express service between Boston and New York City, the first express service in the U.S.

1847 – Santa Anna, returning from one of several exiles, assumes command of the Mexican army, then is defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista by a smaller force of  U.S. troops under General Zachary Taylor

1850 – Cesar Ritz born, French hotelier, founder of the Hôtel Ritz Paris

1861 – U.S. President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore

1861 – Texas becomes the 7th state to secede from the Union

1868 –  W.E.B. Du Bois born, American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist and Pan-Africanist; first black American to earn a doctorate at Harvard; a co-founder of the N.A.A.C.P; leader of the Niagara Movement, which pushed for full civil rights, advanced education and increased political representation for African Americans

1874 – Walter Winfield patents a game called “sphairistike,” aka lawn tennis

1875 – J. Palisa discovers asteroid #143 (aka Adria)

1876 – Wadih Sabra born, Lebanese composer; founder of the National Higher Conservatory of Music; composer of the music for Lebanon’s National Anthem

https://youtu.be/kLIw9s_kDjM

1883 – Alabama is the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law

1886 – Charles M. Hall completes his invention of aluminum

1893 – Diesel Engine Day * – Rudolf Diesel patents his diesel engine

1896 – The Tootsie Roll is introduced by Leo Hirshfield

1898 – In France, Emile Zola is imprisoned for his letter, “J’accuse,” which accuses the government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus

1901 – Ruth Rowland Nichols born, American aviation pioneer; the only woman pilot to simultaneously hold speed, altitude, and distance world records

Ruth Rowland Nichols and Crosley Radio Lockheed Vega, 1930

1904 – The U.S. acquires control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million

1905 – The Rotary Club founded in Chicago IL by Paul Harris, and 3 others

1910 – In Philadelphia PA the first radio contest is held

1915 – Nevada Bill AB-11, returning the state’s residency requirements for divorce from 1 year back to six months, is signed into law by Governor Emmet Boyle, paving the way for Reno to become the “Divorce Capital of America,” a $5 million-a-year industry in the 1930s, after the residency requirement is lowered again in 1931, to a mere 6 weeks

1916 – U.S. Congress authorizes a McKinley Memorial $1 gold coin

1919 – The Fascist Party is formed in Italy by Benito Mussolini

1925 – Louis Stokes born, lawyer and politician, the first African American to represent Ohio in the U.S. Congress (Democrat for Cleveland district, 1968-1998)

1927 – Federal Radio Commission begins assigning frequencies, hours of operation and power allocations for radio broadcasters; on July 1, 1934, the commission’s name is changed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

1937 – Bing Crosby  records “Sweet Leilani” with Lani McIntyre’s band

1942 – Haki R. Madhubuti born as Don Luther Lee, African American author, poet, published and bookseller; founder and publisher of Third World Press in 1967, now the largest independent black-owned press in the U.S.

1945 – The 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of the U.S. Marines reaches the top of Mount Surabachi, where a photograph is taken raising the American flag

1947 – Pia Kjærsgaard born, Danish politician; leader of the right-centrist Danish People’s Party (1995-2012); Member of Parliament since 1984, and first woman Speaker of the Danish Parliament, from 2015 to the present

1950 – Rebecca Newberger Goldstein born, American philosopher and author; noted for the “mattering theory” introduced in her novel The Mind-Body Problem

1954 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, PA

1955 – The French government is formed by Edgar Faure

1955 – Rodney E. Slater born, lawyer; became the first African American Director of the Federal Highway Administration (1993-1997); U.S Secretary of Transportation (1997-2001); brokered the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), to invest $200 billion in surface transportation

1957 – U.S. Supreme Court rules that NFL operations did fall under antitrust laws

1958 – Juan Fangio, five-time world driving champion, is kidnapped by Cuban rebels during the practice runs for the Cuban Grand Prix; Castro wanted to embarrass the Batista regime by forcing cancellation of the race, but it goes on as scheduled; Fangio is allowed to hear it on his captors’ radio. He is released unharmed after 29 hours

1963 – The 24th Constitutional Amendment is ratified, prohibiting poll taxes in U.S. federal elections

1965 – Constance Baker Motley is elected Manhattan Borough president, the highest elective office held by a black woman in a major American city up to that time. She later became the first African-American woman appointed to the federal judiciary

1966 – The Bitar government in Syria ends with a military coup

1970 – Guyana becomes a republic

1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more for the release of Patty Hearst, who had been kidnapped on February 4th

1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declares that Iran’s new parliament will decide the fate of the hostages taken on November 4, 1979, at the U.S. embassy in Tehran

1991 – During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces cross the border of Saudi Arabia into  Iraq; less than four days later, the war is over as Iraqi forces surrender or withdraw

1993 – Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents

1999 – White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and murdering African American James Byrd Jr. by dragging him behind a truck for two miles on a country road in Texas

2000 – Carlos Santana wins eight Grammy Awards for his album Supernatural, tying the record set by Michael Jackson in 1983 for Thriller

https://youtu.be/JR7F83XcF0s

2003 – Norah Jones wins 5 Grammy Awards for her album Come Away With Me

2005 – The New York City medical examiner’s office announces it has exhausted all efforts to identify the remains of the people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, due to the limits of DNA technology; about 1,600 people have been identified, leaving more than 1,100 not identified

2011 – The Obama administration said it will no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage

2012 –Digital Learning Day * launched by education leaders to encourage teachers to take advantage of technological innovation as an additional resource

____________________________________________