Thursday, March 1. This is Wome’s History Month — a time to recognize the often overlooked vision, courage and accomplishments of the nation’s women. One example is Clara Barton, who ministered to wounded soldiers in the Civil War and went […]
Wednesday, February 28. Although February is the calendar’s shortest month, it looms large in America’s history of railroad development. In 1815, the first state charter for a railroad was issued by New Jersey for a never-completed line between Trenton and […]
Tuesday, February 27th. On this date in 1872, America’s third female law student was graduated. But this third was a first. Charlotte Ray was a freeborn African-American, and the first black woman to graduate law school. With her degree from […]
Monday, February 26th. This month in 1866, Lucy Hobbs Taylor received a doctorate in dentistry from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. She was the first American woman so credentialed, and it’s believed she was also the first in the […]
The history of radio and the presidency seems to center entirely on Franklin Roosevelt’s famous “fireside chats” beginning in 1933 in the depths of the Depression. But the first president to address the nation from the White House over the […]
Sunday, February 25th. Paper money has circulated in North America since 1690, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony issued some to paper over — so to speak — the shortage of coins. But these were just promissory notes from governing bodies. […]
“Only Nixon could go to China” is a metaphor for a person of an established reputation to defy all expectations by acting in a contrary fashion. That phrase was conceived this week in 1972. President Richard Nixon, an established cold […]
Wednesday, February 21st. In the early days of the telephone, knowing who had one and what the number was quickly became a problem. The first telephone directory in America was published on this date in 1878 in New Haven, Connecticut. […]
Tuesday, February 13. This date marks the anniversary in 1635 of the organizing of America’s first public school — the Boston Latin School — long before there was a United States. Established in April that year, among its later students […]
The nation’s first college of pharmacy was founded in Philadelphia on this date in 1821, an appropriate anniversary to note that many health care organizations prescribe February as Wise Health Care Consumer Month. The “Rx” for Americans is to invest […]
Monday, February 12. One of the nation’s earliest civil rights organizations is 109 years old today — the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Founded to combat lynching and segregation, the NAACP continues to work toward greater opportunities […]
Sunday, February 11th. Among his very many achievements, Benjamin Franklin played a leading role in the founding of America’s first hospital, decades before the Declaration of Independence. Together with Dr. Thomas Bond, he obtained a charter for a hospital to […]
Sunday, February 4th. Adding poignancy to Black History Month, today marks the birthday in 1913 of Rosa Parks, a community activist who became a symbol of the fight for civil equality. Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her […]
Wednesday, January 31st. Richard Drew of the 3M Company was working on another problem when he ended up inventing one of the world’s most practical items. He noted that workers painting two-tone cars were having trouble keeping the colors separated […]
Tuesday, January 30th. Modern American election cycles engage campaign managers in almost all levels of political races. The man usually credited with being America’s first campaign director, John James Beckley, operated decades before the advent of the news cycle and […]
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