TDISH

Desegregating Ole Miss – Today In Southern History

20 Sep 202329 Aug 2023cptpeewee64Leave a comment

20 September 1961

On this date in 1961…

James Lee Meredith was refused access as a student to the University of Mississippi because of his race.

Other Years:

1809 – Confederate General Sterling Price was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia.

1967 – Hurricane Beulah hit the Texas-Mexican border, killing 38.

1973 – Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match at the Houston Astrodome.

1995 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit, allowing states to decide their own speed limits.

2007 – Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.

Read: Why Know Southern History?

The Sandbar Fight – Today In Southern History

19 Sep 202329 Aug 2023cptpeewee64Leave a comment

19 September 1827

On this date in 1827…

Though shot three times, stabbed twice, and having a sword cane lodged in his chest, Jim Bowie killed Norris Wright and cut off Alfred Blanchard’s arm at the Sandbar Fight when a brawl broke out after a duel outside Natchez, Mississippi.

Other Years:

1796 – U.S. President George Washington’s farewell address was published.
1862 – Confederates under General Sterling Price confronted a large federal force at the Battle of Iuka, Mississippi. Both sides suffered a combined 1,700 casualties.
1863 – The Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia began. Although it cannot accurately be determined, many historians consider this (instead of Sharpsburg) to be the deadliest day in U.S. military history.

Read: Why Know Southern History?

The Cornerstone – Today In Southern History

18 Sep 202329 Aug 2023cptpeewee64Leave a comment

18 September 1793

On this day in 1793…

George Washington and other dignitaries laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in a traditional Masonic ceremony.

Other Years:

1862 – Ten men, all noncombatants, were loaded onto wagons, seated on newly made coffins, and taken to the Palmyra, Missouri fairgrounds where they were executed under order of federal General McNeil in what became known as the Palmyra massacre.

1895 – Booker T. Washington delivers his “Atlanta compromise” address.

1940 – “You Can’t Go Home Again” by Thomas Wolfe of Asheville, North Carolina was published by Harper and Brothers.

1947 – The National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect.

1984 – Joe Kittinger of Florida completed the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic.

1997 – Ted Turner, Atlanta, Georgia Media tycoon, announced that over the next ten years he would give $1 billion to the United Nations.

Read: Why Know Southern History?

Hank Williams – Today In Southern History

17 Sep 202329 Aug 2023cptpeewee64Leave a comment

17 September 1923

On this date in 1923…

County music legend Hank Williams was born at Mount Olive, Alabama.

Other Years:

1787 – The final draft of the U.S. Constitution was completed and signed by a majority of the delegates at the Philadelphia constitutional convention.

1796 – U.S. President George Washington’s Farewell Address was read before the U.S. Congress.

1820 – Confederate General Earl Van Dorn was born in Port Gibson, Mississippi.

1862 – The Battle of Sharpsburg became the bloodiest single day in U.S. military history with more than 23,000 men killed or wounded.

1926 – A Hurricane struck Miami and Palm Beach Florida, killing about 450 people.

1928 – The September Hurricane continued, drowning 1,800-2500 people in and around Lake Okeechobee, Florida.

1953 – Ernie Banks of Dallaas, Texas became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. When he retired in 1971 Banks was known as ‘Mr. Cub’.

1953 – The Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana first successfully separated Siamese twins, Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton, who were connected at the waist when born.

2007 – AOL, once the largest ISP in the U.S., officially announced its plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York, New York.

Read: Why Know Southern History?