JEANNETTE RANKIN Profile America — The first woman to serve in Congress took her seat on this date in 1917. Barely a month later, Jeannette Rankin of Montana shortly became one of the few representatives to vote against entry into […]
CHILD LABOR Profile America — Children have worked for family enterprises like farms and small shops for countless generations. But child labor in mines and the often-dangerous factories arising from the Industrial Revolution was quickly regarded as a social ill. […]
FIRST BLACK-OWNED BANK Profile America — The capital of the vanquished Confederacy was the site of the first chartered black-owned bank in the U.S. Known as the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers, it founded […]
SETTLING THE CZECH Immigration as an item of government involvement appeared on Colonial America’s shores 350 years ago. Born in Bohemia, essentially today’s Czech Republic, Auguste Herman came to the New World initially to work for the Dutch colony […]
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT Saturday, February 27 — 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 […]
CAR INSURANCE Car insurance is both required and a major item in the budget of many households. The idea of insuring cars against accidents began this month in 1898 when the Traveler’s Insurance Company issued a policy to Dr.Truman Martin […]
NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK Every time we use a phone, drive a car, watch TV, cross a bridge, or do myriad everyday activities, we are benefitting from the accumulated work of a most important, broad profession — engineering. To celebrate its […]
LEGAL TENDER 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. That […]
WISE HEALTH CARE CONSUMER MONTH The nation’s first college of pharmacy was founded in Philadelphia on this date in 1821, an appropriate anniversary to note that many healthcare organizations prescribe February as Wise Health Care Consumer Month. The “Rx” […]
FIRST TELEPHONE DIRECTORY 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 the U.S. was published on this date in 1878 in New […]
EARLY PRESIDENTIAL RADIO 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 […]
JAPANESE INTERNMENT Friday, February 19 — On this date in 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order requiring Japanese-Americans living along the Pacific Coast to be relocated inland. This order affected some 77,000 citizens and 43,000 resident aliens. The […]
OH, CANADA Although Canada has been self-governing since 1867, it wasn’t until this date in 1927 that the U.S. established formal diplomatic relations through recognition of a Canadian ambassador in Washington. Until that date, the Dominion of Canada’s […]
THOMAS MALTHUS Profile America — This month — and some sources cite this date — is the 250th anniversary of the 1766 birth of Thomas Malthus in Dorking, England. Given that birthplace, he perhaps naturally became an economist, demographer […]
COLLEGE FOR THE DEAF Profile America — The nation’s first college for deaf students traces its beginning to this date in 1857, when Congress incorporated the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind. In 1864, […]
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