This Day In History

November 20 -

1789 - New Jersey ratifies the Bill of Rights, becoming the first state to do so. New Jersey’s action was a first step toward making the first 10 amendments to the Constitution law and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence.

1820 -The American whaler Essex, which hailed from Nantucket, Massachusetts, is attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America.The 238-ton Essex was in pursuit of sperm whales, specifically the precious oil and bone that could be derived from them, when an enraged bull whale rammed the ship twice and capsized the vessel.

1923 - The U.S. Patent Office grants Patent No. 1,475,074 to 46-year-old inventor and newspaperman Garrett Morgan for his three-position traffic signal. Though Morgan’s was not the first traffic signal (that one had been installed in London in 1868), it was an important innovation nonetheless: By having a third position besides just “Stop” and “Go,” it regulated crossing vehicles more safely than earlier signals had.

1955 - Born Ellas Otha Bates in McComb, Mississippi, in 1928, the man better known as Bo Diddley introduced himself and his namesake beat to the world on this day in 1955 with his television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.

November 21

1877 Thomas Edison announces phonograph. The invention soon spread across the globe and over the next two decades the commercial recording, distribution and sale of sound recordings became a growing new international industry, with the most popular titles selling millions of units by the early 1900s. The development of mass-production techniques enabled cylinder recordings to become a major new consumer item in industrial countries and the cylinder was the main consumer format from the late 1880s until around 1910.





1922 Rebecca L. Felton sworn in as 1st female U.S. Senator. Felton owned slaves before the Civil War,and was the last member of either the House of Representatives or Congress to have been a slave owner. Felton was a white supremacist. She claimed, for instance, that the more money that Georgia spent on black education, the more crimes blacks committed. For the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition, she "proposed a southern exhibit 'illustrating the slave period,' with a cabin and 'real colored folks making mats, shuck collars, and baskets—a woman to spin and card cotton—and another to play banjo and show the actual life of [the] slave—not the Uncle Tom sort.'




1935 China Clipper. First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane. It took off from Alameda, California in an attempt to deliver the first airmail cargo across the Pacific Ocean. Although its inaugural flight plan called for the China Clipper to fly over the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (still under construction at the time), upon take-off the pilot realized the plane would not clear the structure, and was forced to fly narrowly under instead. On November 29, the airplane reached its destination, Manila, after traveling via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam, and delivered over 110,000 pieces of mail.




1942 Tweety Bird, aka Tweety Pie, debuts in "Tale of Two Kitties"




1959 Jack Benny (violin) and Richard Nixon (piano) play their famed duet during the President’s Ball at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.





2014 Snow storms are ending in the Buffalo, New York region, leaving behind up to 7 feet of snow and placing the region at risk for floods as temperatures rise over the next few days; the storms resulted in 13 deaths and hundreds of stranded motorists.

November 22

1497 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope.





1927 1st snowmobile patent granted to Carl Eliason (Sayner Wisc)





1955 RCA Victor's best investment paying $25,000 to Sun Records and Sam Philips for rights to Elvis Presley, a truck driver from Tupelo Miss.





1957 Simon and Garfunkel appear on "American Bandstand" as "Tom and Jerry"




1963 John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas.


with sister Kathleen at Palm Beach.



2011 Scientists in New Britain discover the first orchid known to flower at night, Bulbophyllum nocturnum, over the cost of Papua New Guinea.

November 22 - 1986

The History Channel

"On November 22, 1986, 20-year-old Mike Tyson knocks out 33-year-old Trevor Berbick in just five minutes and 35 seconds to become the youngest titleholder ever. “I’m the youngest heavyweight boxing champion in history,” Tyson told his manager after the fight...

Tyson’s bravado wasn’t misplaced: When he walked into the ring to face Berbick, he had won all 27 of the matches he’d fought, knocking out 26 of his opponents. He threw unbelievably hard punches–“pineapples,” trainer Angelo Dundee called them. Ref Mills Lane agreed: “Everything he’s got has ‘good night’ written all over it,” he said. Berbick refused to be intimidated by the younger man’s furious arm and decided–unwisely, it turned out–to stand up to Tyson instead of boxing him. He didn’t bob or weave or even throw punches. He just stood there, wanting to show the world that he could take whatever Tyson was dishing out. “I was trying to prove to myself that I could take his best shot,” Berbick said, but “he punches pretty hard.”



Read More: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mike-tyson-becomes-the-youngest-heavyweight-champ-in-history

[FONT=&amp] “I'm a dreamer. I have to dream and reach for the stars, and if I miss a star then I grab a handful of clouds”. Mike Tyson[/FONT]

November 23

1835 Henry Burden patents Horseshoe manufacturing machine (Troy New York)





1897 Pencil sharpener patented by J L Love





1897 Andrew J Beard invents "jerry coupler," to connect railroad cars





1889 Debut of 1st jukebox (Palais Royale Saloon, San Francisco)





1936 1st issue of Life, picture magazine created by Henry R Luce.





1964 Beatles release "I Feel Fine"

November 23 -

1903 - Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his American debut in a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

1921 - President Warren G. Harding signs the Willis Campbell Act, better known as the anti-beer bill. It forbids doctors to prescribe beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.

1942 - The film Casablanca premieres in New York City

1943 - U.S. Marines declare the island of Tarawa secure

1992 - The first Smartphone, IBM Simon, introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

23 Nov 1959

The History Channel

"Robert Stroud, the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz,” is released from solitary confinement for the first time since 1916. Stroud gained widespread fame and attention when author Thomas Gaddis wrote a biography that trumpeted Stroud’s ornithological expertise.

Stroud was first sent to prison in 1909 after he killed a bartender in a brawl. He had nearly completed his sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas when he stabbed a guard to death in 1916. Though he claimed to have acted in self-defense, he was convicted and sentenced to hang. A handwritten plea by Stroud’s mother to President Woodrow Wilson earned Stroud a commuted sentence of life in permanent solitary confinement.

For the next 15 years, Stroud lived amongst the canaries that were brought to him by visitors, and became an expert in birds and ornithological diseases. But after being ordered to give up his birds in 1931, he redirected his energies to writing about them and published his first book on ornithology two years later. When the publisher failed to pay Stroud royalties because he was barred from filing suit, Stroud took out advertisements complaining about the situation. Prison officials retaliated by sending him to Alcatraz, the federal prison with the worst conditions.

In 1943, Stroud’s Digest of the Diseases of Birds, a 500-page text that included his own illustrations, was published to general acclaim. In spite of his success, Stroud was depressed over the isolation he felt at Alcatraz, and he attempted suicide several times. The legendary “Birdman of Alcatraz” died in a Missouri prison in 1963 at the age of 73.

Read More: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-birdman-of-alcatraz-is-allowed-a-small-taste-of-freedom

“Always tell yourself that you are as good as anyone that breathes; that you have two hands and a brain, and a little time in which to use them...". Robert Stroud, the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz

The Count of Merkur Cristo said:

23 Nov 1959

The History Channel

"Robert Stroud, the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz,” is released from solitary confinement for the first time since 1916. Stroud gained widespread fame and attention when author Thomas Gaddis wrote a biography that trumpeted Stroud’s ornithological expertise.

Stroud was first sent to prison in 1909 after he killed a bartender in a brawl. He had nearly completed his sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas when he stabbed a guard to death in 1916. Though he claimed to have acted in self-defense, he was convicted and sentenced to hang. A handwritten plea by Stroud’s mother to President Woodrow Wilson earned Stroud a commuted sentence of life in permanent solitary confinement.

For the next 15 years, Stroud lived amongst the canaries that were brought to him by visitors, and became an expert in birds and ornithological diseases. But after being ordered to give up his birds in 1931, he redirected his energies to writing about them and published his first book on ornithology two years later. When the publisher failed to pay Stroud royalties because he was barred from filing suit, Stroud took out advertisements complaining about the situation. Prison officials retaliated by sending him to Alcatraz, the federal prison with the worst conditions.

In 1943, Stroud’s Digest of the Diseases of Birds, a 500-page text that included his own illustrations, was published to general acclaim. In spite of his success, Stroud was depressed over the isolation he felt at Alcatraz, and he attempted suicide several times. The legendary “Birdman of Alcatraz” died in a Missouri prison in 1963 at the age of 73.

Read More: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-birdman-of-alcatraz-is-allowed-a-small-taste-of-freedom

“Always tell yourself that you are as good as anyone that breathes; that you have two hands and a brain, and a little time in which to use them...". Robert Stroud, the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz

Click to expand...

Stroud was not allowed to keep birds after his transfer to Alcatraz ... he should more properly be called "The Birdman of Leavenworth" but that doesn't have the same ring to it.

November 24

1874 Joseph F. Glidden patents barbed wire





1903 Clyde Coleman of New York City patents automobile electric starter





1954 Air Force One, 1st U.S. Presidential airplane, christened





1963 1st live murder on TV-Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald

November 24 -

1859 - Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. The first printing of 1,250 copies sells out in a single day.

1864 - Kit Carson and his 1st Cavalry, New Mexico Volunteers, attack a camp of Kiowa Indians in the First Battle of Adobe Walls.

Nov 24 1974 - Discovery of AL 288-1, most complete skeleton found of Australopithecus afarensis , known to the world as Lucy.

Thanks Google Doodle
https://www.google.com/doodles/41st-anniversary-of-the-discovery-of-lucy

November 25 -

2348 BC - Biblical scholars have long asserted this to be the day of the Great Deluge, or Flood (I have NO idea for the basis for this, but it is interesting).

1921 - German Field Marshal Fredrich von Hindenburg calls off the Lodz offensive 40 miles from Warsaw, Poland. The Russians lose 90,000 to the Germans’ 35,000 in two weeks of fighting.

1963 - The body of assassinated President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery

1992 - Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to partition the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, beginning Jan. 1, 1993.

Wasn't Lodz in 1914?

In this Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013 photo, autumn leaves lie around the John F. Kennedy Memorial in Runnymede, England. This small piece of America sits on an English hillside near the River Thames meadow where the Magna Carta was signed eight centuries ago. Only a trickle of visitors come to the site, located on an acre of land given to the people of the United States by Queen Elizabeth II in an unprecedented act meant to show Britain’s affection for the fallen president. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

November 26

1703 Heavy storm hits England 1000s killed





1789 1st national Thanksgiving





1867 Refrigerated railroad car patented by J. B. Sutherland





1952 1st modern 3-D movie "Bwana Devil," premieres in Hollywood




1983 Heathrow Airport, robbed of 6,800 gold bars worth $38.7 million





1990 1st Billboard Music Awards: Janet Jackson wins

November 26 -

1825 - The Kappa Alpha Society, the second American college Greek-letter fraternity, is founded

1922 - Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, archeologists, open King Tut’s tomb, undisturbed for 3,000 years.

1938 - Poland renews nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union to protect against a German invasion.

1941 - The Japanese fleet departs from the Kuril Islands en route to its attack on Pearl Harbor

November 27

1582 William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway.





1945 Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft re-buried in presence of Queen Wilhelmina.





1910 Penn Station in New York opens.







1967 Beatles release "Magical Mystery Tour"

Paul McCartney in 2005 at the Pond of Anaheim.

November 27 -

1826 - Jedediah Smith’s expedition reaches San Diego, becoming the first Americans to cross the southwestern part of the continent

1942 - The French fleet in Toulon is scuttled to keep it from Germany

November 27, 1978

San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone are assassinated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk

November 28


1520 Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing Pacific Ocean.




1895 America's 1st auto race starts; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner avg 7 MPH





1932 Groucho Marx performed on radio for 1st time.



1948 "Hopalong Cassidy" premieres on TV.




1988 Picasso's "Acrobat and Harlequin" sells for $38.46 million