September 18th is

U.S. Air Force Birthday *

Chiropractic Founder’s Day *

National Cheeseburger Day *

National Respect Day

World Water Monitoring Day *

National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day *

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MORE! Trajan, June Foray and Eric K. Fanning, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Judaism – Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown

Chile – Independence Day

Burundi – Victory of Uprona

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On This Day in HISTORY

AD 53 – Trajan born, much-admired Roman Emperor (98-117)

96 – Roman Emperor Domitian is stabbed to death in an assassination plot instigated by court officials; within hours, the senate proclaims Marcus Cocceius Nerva as Emperor, and passes damnatio memoriae (damnation of memory) on Domitian– his name erased from all public records, coins and statues with his likeness  melted down, and triumphal arches destroyed, the first emperor to be officially damned by the Roman Senate

524 – Kan Bahlam I (‘Snake Jaguar’) born, an ajaw of the Maya city-state of Palenque, the first ruler of the city to use the title K’inich (‘Radiant’), who reigned from 572-583

glyph of Kan Bahlam I

1066 – Norwegian King Harald Hardrada lands with Tostig Godwinson at the mouth of England’s Humber River. They will both be killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire on September 25

1587 –  Francesca Caccini born, Italian composer, singer, lutenist, poet and teacher, known by the nickname “La Cecchina”, one of the most well-known and influential female European composers between Hildegard of Bingen and the 19th century. Her work, La liberazione di Ruggiero, is considered the first opera by a woman composer

1709 – Samuel Johnson, ‘Dictionary Man’ and scholar, poet, essayist and literary critic, is born in Lichfield, England

1714 – The first British Hanoverian King, George I, arrives in his new kingdom

1769 – The French formally surrender Quebec to the British, and the Boston Gazette reports that John Harris made a spinet, the first known ‘piano’ built in North America

1779 – Joseph Story born, American lawyer, Democratic-Republican politician and jurist; Supreme Court Justice (1812-1845); member of U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts (1808-1809); notable for his decision in United States v. The Amistad Africans, et al, and for his comprehensive 3-volume treatise, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first published in 1833

1809 – The Royal Opera House opens in London

1830 – ‘Tom Thumb’ the first American-built locomotive loses a race with a horse due to mechanical difficulties

1837 – Tiffany & Young (now Tiffany & Co) is founded in New York City as an emporium of “stationery and fancy goods”

1838 – In Great Britain, the Anti-Corn Law League is founded by Richard Cobden to protest taxes on imported wheat which protect British landowners, but raise the price of bread just as factory-owners are trying to cut wages

1850 – The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, allowing slave owners to reclaim slaves who escaped into states that had banned slavery – Abolitionists dubbed it the ‘Bloodhound Law’ because dogs were often used to track runaway slaves.  In 1842, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Prigg v. Pennsylvania, that states did not have to offer aid in the hunting or recapture of slaves, which greatly undermined the ability of slave owners to recapture slaves who escaped, but the Fugitive Slave Act required all law-enforcement officials to arrest anyone claimed to be a runaway slave by the sworn statement of a slave owner, and the arrested person was no longer entitled to a jury trial or to testify on their own behalf.  An officer who captured a fugitive slave was entitled to a bonus or promotion, but any person who gave aid, food or shelter to a runaway was subject to 6 months in prison and a $1,000 fine. This resulted not only in escaped slaves being returned to enslavement, but also led to some free black people being conscripted into slavery on the say-so of Southern slavers

1851 – The New York Times begins publication, originally as the New-York Daily Times

1858 – Kate Booth born, English Salvation Army officer, daughter of William and Catherine, dubbed “la Maréchale”; brought the Salvation Army to France and Switzerland, meeting fierce opposition in both countries

1870 – Henry D. Washburn, leader of the Washburn expedition to explore Yellowstone, observes and times a geyser, then names it Old Faithful

Old Faithful by Ansel Adams

1873 – Panic of 1873 begins when Jay Cooke & Company, a U.S banking firm that was major bond company in America, declares bankruptcy, which triggers bank failures

1885 – Uzeyir Hajibeyov born, Azerbaijani composer, conductor, and playwright; considered the father of Azerbaijani composed classical music and opera; composer of the national anthem of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (which was re-adopted after Azerbaijan regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991)

1888 – ‘Grey Owl’ born Archibald Belaney, English-Canadian environmentalist and author who impersonated a Native American, which hurt his reputation when it was discovered after his death

1888 – Toni Wolff born, Swiss psychologist, worked closely with Carl Jung

1889 – Doris Blackburn born, Australian activist and Member of Parliament

1891 – Harriet Maxwell Converse, a white woman, is named a chief of the Six Nations Tribe at Towanda Reservation in New York to honor of her untiring efforts on their behalf to gain U.S. citizenship for the Six Nations and other benefits

1895 – First ‘adjustment’ by Daniel David Palmer, founder of modern Chiropractic * medicine

1900 – Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam born, Mauritian leader in the Mauritian independence movement, statesman and philanthropist; first Prime Minister of Mauritius (1968-1982), and Governor-General of Mauritius (1983-1985)

1905 – Agnes de Mille born, influential American dancer and choreographer

1912 – María De la Cruz born, Chilean women’s suffrage activist, publisher-editor of the magazine Luz y sombra (Light and Shadows), radio journalist and political commentator; founder of the Feminine Party of Chile; first woman elected to the Chilean Senate (1953), but she was accused of smuggling watches from Argentina, indicted and stripped of her position, even though nothing was ever proved against her, and the accusations are now seen as purely politically motivated to remove her from the Senate

1914 –  Irish Home Rule received Royal assent

1917 – June Foray born, American voice actress best known as the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, in a remarkable career that began in radio and spanned 80 years; Natasha of Boris and Natasha, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer the Cat from Disney’s Cinderella, and Nagaina the Cobra in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, are among the dozens of characters she gave a voice. In the 1960s, Foray was a pioneering and passionate advocate for the preservation and promotion of animation, credited with establishment of the Annie Awards, and a prime mover behind creation of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Famed animator Chuck Jones once said, “June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc was the male June Foray.”

1919 – Dutch women get the right to vote

1923 – Bertha Wilson born in Scotland, Canadian jurist and the first woman Puisne (not a senior or chief justice of a court) Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (1982-1991); first woman appointed to the Court of Appeal for Toronto (1975-1982); first woman associate, then partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt (1958-1975), where she created the first in-firm research department in Canada

1924? or 26? – An Origin Myth of the Cheeseburger *– Sometime in either 1924 or 1926, a  homeless man eating at Lionel Sternberger’s restaurant in Pasadena, California, suggested the addition of a slice of cheese to his hamburger order. Sternberger complied, eventually added it to his menu, and the rest is history – or legend.

1925 – Dorothy Wedderburn born, British academic administrator; Principle of Bedford College (1982-1985), which then merged with Royal Holloway College, and she became the first principle of the merged college (1985-1990); head of the Department of Social and Economic Studies (1978-1981) at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. Previously a professor of industrial sociology at ICST (1965-1981)

1926 – Bud Greenspan born, influential American producer-director-screenwriter for sports documentaries

1927 – Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (now CBS) debuts network broadcasting over 16 radio stations

1927 – Muriel Turner born, Baroness Turner of Camden, British Labour politician and trade union leader; Life Peer of the House of Lords (1985-2017); Assistant General Secretary of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS – 1970-1987)

1929 – Nancy Kassell Littlefield born, producer-director of documentary programs; Director of NYC Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting (1978-1983)

1937 – Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri born, South African politician and teacher; first woman to serve as South Africa’s (acting) president – twice. The first time was in 2005 when both President Mbeki and his Deputy President were outside the country, and then for 14 hours in September 2008, between the resignation of Mbeki,  and Kgalema Motlanthe taking the oath of office. She was Minister of Communications (1999-2009). Went into exile (1965-1990) worked as a teacher, for the UN Institute for Namibia in Zimbabwe, as a lecturer and registrar, and earned her PhD in sociology from Rutgers University in the U.S.

1939 – ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ WWII radio broadcasts of pro-Nazi/anti-Allied propaganda begin

1940 – You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe is published

1946 – In Brazil, a new constitution is introduced, in which the position of Vice President is reinstated, and Nereu de Oliviera Ramos, senator for Santa Catarina, is chosen by the Constituent Assembly in a special election as Vice President of Brazil (1946-1951)

1946 – Meredith Oakes born, Australian playwright and music critic, primarily working in London; her plays include The Neighbor, The Editing Process, Scenes from the Back of Beyond and Mind the Gap; she wrote the libretto for the opera The Tempest, loosely based on Shakespeare’s play

1947 – Official date of the U.S. Air Force * becoming a separate military branch

1948 – Lynn Abbey born, American computer programmer, fantasy author and anthology editor; known for Daughter of the Bright Moon

1949 – Dr. Mo Mowlam born, British Labour politician; Minister for the Cabinet Office Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1999-2001); first woman Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1997-1999), overseeing the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement, and was instrumental in restoring the IRA ceasefire; Member of Parliament for Redcar (1987-2001); after her retirement in 2001, she became a vocal critic of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and took part the anti-Iraq war protests. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1997, which she kept quiet for as long as possible, before dying in 2005

1950 – Anna Deavere Smith born, actress and playwright; founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at New York University; noted for writing, and starring in her one-woman “documentary theatre” shows , including Fires in the Mirror; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; The Arizona Project, and Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education; recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize

1955 – Ed Sullivan’s variety show first airs as The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV, after being on the air since 1948 as The Toast of the Town

1960 – Carolyn Harris born, British Labour politician; the first woman Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour, (elected April 2018); Member of Parliament for Swansea East since 2015

1965 – I Dream of Jeannie first airs on NBC-TV

1971 – South African Prime Minister John Vorster reaffirms in a meeting with World Council of Churches representatives that he will not allow a WCC delegation to come to South Africa under any condition, and he will not allow any funds to be sent from Siuth Africa to the World Council

1977 – Voyager One takes the first photo of the Earth and the Moon together

1979 – The Eagles release “Heartache Tonight”

1981 – France’s Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment

1994 – Haiti’s military leaders agree to leave the country to avert a U.S.-led invasion

1997 – The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, which was launched by Canada as the Ottawa Process in 1996, is signed by 162 nations, but 34 members of the U.N., including the U.S., Russia and China are not signatories. The Mine Ban Treaty is ratified in 1998, and becomes international law on March 1, 1999

2003 –America’s Clean Water Foundation starts Water Monitoring Day * to raise awareness of water pollution issues and get people to test their local bodies of water

2008 – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day * to focus attention on HIV- issues confronting people aged 55 or older, who account for 24% of an estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV. Older adults are less likely to get tested for the virus, so they are often diagnosed late in the course of the infection, when it is more likely to develop into AIDS.

2014 – Scottish voters reject independence from the U.K., by 55% to 44%

2015 – President Barack Obama appoints Eric K. Fanning as U.S Secretary of the Army (2016-2017), who served as Acting Secretary of the Army from 2015 to 2016. Fanning was the first openly gay person to hold the position

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