August 28th is

Radio Commercials Day *

Cherry Turnover Day

National Bow Tie Day

National Red Wine Day

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day

Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day

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MORE! Ayyankali, Janet Frame, and Emmett Till, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

India – Ayyankali Jayanti *
(birthday of untouchables champion)

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On This Day in HISTORY

489 – The army of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, defeats the forces of Odoacer, the first King of Italy (476-493), at the Battle of Isonzo on the banks of the Isontius River, (there were TWELVE ‘Battles of Isonzo’ during WWI, but that’s another story entirely) THIS Battle of Isonzo is often considered a marker for the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire

632 – The death of Fatima az-Zahra, aka Fatimah bint Muhammad, daughter of Muhammad, the Islamic Prophet, and Khadija (While Fatimah is a revered figure for all Muslims, the exact date and cause of her death are disputed by various factions)

1524 – The Kaqchikel Maya begin a rebellion against their former Spanish allies in defeating their enemies, the neighboring K’iche’ Kingdom, during the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, proving the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend

1609 – Henry Hudson reaches what is now Delaware Bay

1749 – Johann Wolfgang Goethe born, German author, poet and philosopher

1789 – William Herschel discovers another moon of Saturn, named after a giant in Greek mythology, Enceladus

1828 – Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian author, is born; War and Peace

1830 – The passenger-carrying train “Tom Thumb” is demonstrated in Baltimore MD

1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act receives Royal Assent, abolishing slavery in almost all of the British Empire

1845 – First issue of Scientific American magazine is published

1850 – Wagner’s opera Lohengrin premieres

1863 – Ayyankali * born, advocate for advancement of India’s “untouchable” Dalits caste; founded the first school for Dalit children, but it was destroyed in an arson fire; campaigned for admission of Dalit children to public schools; the order to admit them was finally put effect in 1910 after several years of struggle; founder of group Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham, dedicated to advancing the rights of Dalits in education, employment and civil rights

1879 – Cetshwayo, the last Zulu king, is captured by the British

1898 – Caleb Bradham’s beverage “Brad’s Drink” is renamed “Pepsi-Cola”

1899 – James Wong Howe born in China, innovative American cinematographer

1903 – Bruno Bettelheim born in Austria, American psychologist, academic and author; a 1977 National Book Award for The Uses of Enchantment

1907 – Teenagers Jim Casey and Claude Ryan start the American Messenger Company, which becomes United Parcel Service

1908 – Roger Tory Peterson born, American naturalist, ornithologist and author; a pioneer in the environmental movement; Wild America, Peterson Field Guides

1913 – Richard Tucker born, major post-WWII American operatic tenor at the Met; also served as a cantor, especially at the Jewish High Holy Days services

1913 – Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague, now home of the International Court of Justice

1913 – Robertson Davies born, Canadian novelist, playwright and academic; The Deptford Trilogy; Leaven of Malice won 1955 Stephen Leacock Award for Humour

1915 – Tasha Tudor born, notable illustrator and author of children’s books, Caldecott Honors for Mother Goose; author of series starting withCorgiville Fair

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do.

1917 – Woman Suffrage protesters outside the White House compare President Wilson to the German Kaiser. Ten of them are arrested, sentenced to work camps, then their hunger strike is ended by forced feeding

1921 – Lidia Gueler Tejeda born, Bolivian politician; Acting Presdient of Boliva (1979-1980), Bolivia’s first woman Head of State; President of the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies (1979); Member of the Congress of Bolivia (1956-1964)

1922 – First radio commercial * aired on NYC’s WEAF when the Queensboro Realty Company buys 10 minutes of airtime for $100

1924 – Janet Frame born, pseudonym of Nene Janet Paterson Clutha, New Zealand author, also known for her personal history; her book The Lagoon and Other Stories won the Hubert Church Memorial Award just days before she was scheduled to have a lobotomy; she became the recipient of many other honors and awards for her work

1924 – The rebellion of Georgians seeking independence from Soviet rule is launched; it will last just over a year before it is crushed by the Red Army

1931 – France and the USSR sign a non-aggression treaty

1931 – ‘Red’ Allen records “You Rascal You” with the Luis Russell Band

1942 – Wendy E. Davies born, Welsh historian and academic; Emeritus Professor of History at University College, London; noted for her studies of Welsh and Briton history, and her analysis of the Llandaff Charters; founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales; and co-director of the interdisciplinary Celtic Inscribed Stones Project

1943 – In Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation begins

1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till, accused of whistling at a white woman, is brutally murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the Civil Rights Movement

1957 – U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond (SC) filibusters to prevent a Senate vote on the Civil Rights Act. He holds the floor for 24 hours, 18 minutes, the longest filibuster conducted by a single Senator

1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington before a crowd of more than 200,000 people

1968 – During the Democratic National Convention, 10,000 anti-war protesters take to the streets of Chicago. Denied legal permits by Chicago Mayor Daley, several leaders are arrested by Chicago police on August 23. On August 28, in Grant Park, the police riot, beating protesters, journalists and bystanders, and using massive amounts of tear gas and mace. As the riot spills over in front of the Hilton Hotel, the crowd begins chanting “the whole world is watching” before the television cameras

1970 – The Jackson Five release their single “I’ll Be There”

1975 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announces a ban on the use of polyvinyl chloride plastic for packaging of certain foods, because of its potential for causing cancer. At the time, PVC was the second most-used plastic in American food packaging. Although PVC film wrapping of meat and fruits still permitted, use of hard PVC plastic on lunch meat packages, and for bottles of liquids, is prohibited

1995 – Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank merge to become the largest U.S. bank

1998 – Pakistan’s National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the “Qur’an and Sunnah” the “supreme law” of the land but the bill is defeated in the Senate.

2005 – New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin orders the evacuation of the city ahead of Hurricane Katrina

2008 – Barack Obama accepts his party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic Convention in Denver CO

2013 – China and Russia walk out of a UN Security Council meeting after the U.S. pushes for immediate action against Syria for its use of chemical weapons

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