November 21st is

Alaska Alascattalo Day *

National Gingerbread Cookie Day

World Hello Day *

World Television Day *

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MORE! Mollie Steimer, Rene Magritte and Milka Planinc, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Bosnia & Herzegovina –
Framework Agreement Day

Cambodia –Bonn Om Touk
(Water Festival)

Canada – Red Mitten Day
(Support for Canadian Olympians)

Germany – Saxony:
Repentance Day

Italy – Venice: Madonna Della Salute
(Feast of Our Lady of Good Health)

Serbia – Synaxis of Archangel Michailo

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On This Day in HISTORY

164 BCE – Judas Maccabeus restores the Temple in Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, commemorated by the Jewish festival of Hanukkah

1009 – Lý Công Uẩn is enthroned as emperor of Đại Cồ Việt, founding the Lý dynasty of Vietnam. His reign from 1009 to 1028 is a time of peace and prosperity

1631 – Catharina Questiers born, Dutch poet and dramatist, one of the few successful women poets in late 17^th century Holland; The Battle for the Laurels was a joint publication with poet Cornelia van der Veer of their friendly contest – paired poems to see who most deserved the poetic laurels – which was declared a tie

1676 – Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative  measurements of the speed of light

1694 – Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) born, French Enlightenment author, historian and philosopher; advocate for civil liberties, especially freedom of religion and speech, and separation of church and state

1718 – Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg born, German composer and musicologist

1783 – Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight, over Paris

1787 – Samuel Cunard born, Canadian shipping magnate, founder of the Cunard Line

Cunard steam-ship Servia, 1881

1789 – North Carolina ratifies the U. S. Constitution, is admitted as 12th U.S. state

1835 – Hetty Green born, American businesswoman and financier, called the “Witch of Wall Street,” the richest woman in America, and a terrible miser; her daughter was dressed in cast-off clothes, and Green refused to pay a doctor when her teenaged son’s leg was broken in an accident, which later had to be amputated

1852 – Francisco Tárrega born, Spanish composer and classical guitarist

1877 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph

1897 – Mollie Steimer born in Tsarist Russia, U.S. anarchist, trade unionist, and advocate for prisoners’ rights; arrested with five others in 1918 for printing and distributing leaflets denouncing U.S. military action against the Bolshevik revolution.  Their trial became a cause célèbre, the first major prosecution under the Sedition Act, notable for the blatant infringement of the defendants’ rights.  They were all were represented by attorney Harry Weinberger, well-known for defending conscientious objectors, pacifists, and radicals. The two-week trial was in October, 1918. Weinberger argued that, since the defendants’ actions did not directly interfere with the war effort, they were not punishable under the provisions of the Sedition Act. Despite his defense, all but one of the defendants were found guilty, and four were given major sentences, including Steimer.  She was convicted  and sentenced to prison. The case went to the  U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court. Steimer was deported to Russia in 1921. She protested in Russia against Bolshevik persecutions of Russian anarchists, and was deported again. She went first to Germany, then to Paris, aiding political prisoners and anarchist exiles. After the Germans took Paris in 1940, she was arrested and sent to an internment camp, but was released.  She fled from Europe, and spent the rest of her life in Mexico

1898 – Rene Magritte born, Belgian Surrealist artist

Golconde, by René Magritte

1902 – Isaac Bashevis Singer born in Poland, Jewish American immigrant author and playwright, who wrote in Yiddish, 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature

1904 – Coleman Hawkins, American Jazz/Bebop saxophone and clarinet player

1905 – Albert Einstein’s “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?” is published in the journal Annalen der Physik. It reveals the relationship between energy and mass, which leads to the mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc²

1908 – Elizabeth George Speare born, American children’s author, known for historical novels, including two Newbery medal winners, The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Bronze Bow; 1989 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for contributions to children’s literature

1910 – Sailors on board Brazil’s warships including the Minas Geraes, São Paulo, and Bahia, violently rebel in the Revolta da Chibata (Revolt of the Lash)

1922 – Rebecca Latimer Felton (Democrat-Georgia) takes oath of office as the first female U.S. Senator, but only serves 24 hours

1924 – Milka Planinc born, Yugoslav politician from Croatia; first woman Prime Minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1982-1986);  Secretary of the League of Communists of Croatia (1971-1982); President of the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (1968–1971); member of the Presidium of the League of Communists of Croatia (1966-1968); Secretary for Education of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (1963-1965); Secretary of Cultural Affairs of the City of Zagreb (1961-1963); elected to the Croatian Central Committee in 1959

1927 – Columbine Mine massacre: Colorado state police fire on a group of unarmed striking coal miners. Six strikers were killed, and dozens were injured

1929 – Marilyn French born, American radical feminist author of nonfiction and fiction; Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals; From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women; best known for her novel, The Women’s Room

1929 – In Paris, Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali has his first art exhibit

Girl from the Back by Salvador Dali – 1925

1932 – Dame Beryl Bainbridge born, English author; won the Whitbread Prize twice, for Injury Time (1977), and Every Man for Himself (1996)

1933 – Etta Zuber Falconer born, American mathematician and educator; one of the first African American women to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics, in 1969, from Emory University, with a dissertation on abstract algebra; she was as a mathematics instructor at Spelman College in 1965, and later became a professor, and then head of the department there; she earned a Master of Science degree in computer science in 1982 to enable her to set up a computer science department at Spelman. In 1995, Falconer was honored by the Association for Women in Mathematics, who awarded her the Louise Hay Award for outstanding achievement in mathematics education

1934 – Cole Porter’s musical Anything Goes opens on Broadway

1937 – Marlo Thomas born, American actress-producer, known for award-winning feminist children’s franchise, Free to Be… You and Me

1940 – Natalia Makarova born, Russian prima ballerina absolute, and choreographer

1942 – The Alaska Highway (aka ALCAN Highway) opening ceremony at Soldier’s Summit, but it’s mostly restricted to military and supply vehicles until after WWII

1942 – Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul born, German Social Democratic politician, from the left wing of the party (sometimes called ‘Red Heidi’); Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (1998-2009); Member of the German Bundestag (1987-2013); Socialist Member of the European Parliament (1979-1987); President of the European Coordination Bureau of International Youth Organisation (1977-1979)

1945 – The United Auto Workers strike 92 General Motors plants in 50 cities to back up worker demands for a 30-percent raise; 113 days later, they settled for an 18 1/2 cent an hour raise to $1.24 an hour [17.5 percent], paid vacations, and overtime

1952 – Janne Kristiansen born, Norwegian jurist; head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (2009-2012); first head of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (2004-2009)

1953 – British Natural History Museum authorities announces that “Piltdown Man,” “found” in 1912, initially hailed as a fossilized partial hominid skull, was a hoax

1954 – Fiona Pitt-Kettle born, British poet, novelist, travel writer, anthology editor and freelance journalist; Sky Ray Lully, The Misfortunes of Nigel, The Pan Principle

1959 – American disc jockey Alan Freed, who popularized the term “rock and roll” music, is fired from WABC-AM radio for refusing to deny allegations he took bribes during the recording industry ‘payola’ investigation

1963 –U.S. President John F. Kennedy and the First Lady arrive in San Antonio TX, to begin a two-day tour of Texas that ends in his assassination in Dallas

1964 – The Verrazano–Narrows Bridge between Staten Island and Brooklyn opens to traffic, the world’s longest bridge span (1964 until 1981)

Verrazano–Narrows Bridge – Opening Day

1969 – U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Satō meet in Washington, D.C. and agree on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972, with the U.S. retaining its rights to bases on the island, as long as they are nuclear-free

1970 – Karen Dávila born, Filipina journalist, radio broadcaster, and news reader; winner of over 20 awards for professional journalism from local and international organizations

1973 – World Hello Day * is started by Brian and Michael McCormack to help make the world a more peaceful place, now celebrated in 180 countries – try saying hello with a welcoming smile to ten people today

1977 – Yolande James born, Canadian Quebec Liberal Party politician; first black woman and youngest Member of the National Assembly of Quebec, representing Nelligan (2004-20014); first black cabinet member in Quebec, as Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities & Minister Of Family; political commentator on CBC programs

1977 – New Zealand  announces that its two official national anthems, “God Save the Queen” and “God Defend New Zealand” by Thomas Bracken (lyrics) and John Joseph Woods (music), both being of equal status as appropriate to the occasion

1980 – An estimated 83 million viewers tuned in to find out “who shot J.R.” on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas. Kristin was the character that fired the gun

1983 – Los Angeles movie theatres premiere Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video

1985 – Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested, accused of spying for Israel – he would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison

1986 – U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese is asked to conduct an inquiry of the Iran arms sales.  National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents implicating them in the sale of weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua

1989 – Proceedings of Britain’s House of Commons are televised live for the first time

1992 – After a damning story appears in the Washington Post, U.S. Senator Bob Packwood (R-OR) issues an apology but refuses to discuss allegations that he had made unwelcome sexual advances or assaulted 10 women, chiefly former staffers and lobbyists, between 1969 and 1992: “I’m apologizing for the conduct that it was alleged that I did.” Eventually over a dozen more women would come forward

1993 – The U.S. House of Representatives vote against making the District of Columbia the 51st state

1996 – U.N. General Assembly proclaims World Television Day * commemorating first World Television Forum held November 22-23, 1996, at UN Headquarters

1999 – China announces its test-launch of an unmanned space capsule designed for manned spaceflight

2002 – NATO invites Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members

2013 – A massive protest begins in the Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych suspends signing the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement

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