At the height of the civil rights movement in 1963, these famous words were spoken from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” But Martin Luther King Jr., was not the first to raise his voice from those steps with a message of hope for America’s future. That distinction belongs to the world-famous contralto Marian Anderson, whose performance at the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939, made a compelling case for the transformative power of music, and in a place typically associated with the power of words.

Source: history.com

0193 – In the Balkans, the distinguished soldier Septimius Seversus was proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum.

0715 – Constantine ended his reign as Catholic Pope.

1241 – In the Battle of Liegnitz, Mongol armies defeated the Poles and the Germans.

1454 – The city states of Venice, Milan and Florence signed a peace agreement at Lodi, Italy.

1667 – In Paris, The first public art exhibition was held at the Palais-Royale.

1682 – Robert La Salle claimed the lower Mississippi River and all lands that touch it for France.

1770 – Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay on the Australian continent.

1833 – Peterborough, NH, opened the first municipally supported public library in the United States.

1838 – The National Galley opened in London.

1865 – At Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in the parlor of Wilmer McClean’s home. Grant allowed Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permitted soldiers to keep their horses and mules. Though there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. The four years of fighting had killed 360,000 Union troops and 260,000 Confederate troops.

1866 – The Civil Rights Bill passed over U.S. President Andrew Johnson‘s veto.

1867 – The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty with Russia that purchased the territory of Alaska by one vote.

1869 – The Hudson Bay Company ceded its territory to Canada.

1870 – The American Anti-Slavery Society was dissolved.

1872 – S.R. Percy received a patent for dried milk.

1900 – British forces routed the Boers at Kroonstadt, South Africa.

1905 – The first aerial ferry bridge went into operation in Duluth, MN.

1912 – The first exhibition baseball game was held at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was between Red Sox and Harvard.

1913 – The Brooklyn Dodgers’ Ebbets Field opened.

1914 – In London, the first full-color film, “The World, The Flesh & the Devil,” was shown.

1916 – The German army launched it’s third offensive during the Battle of Verdun.

1917 – The Battle of Arras began as Canadian troops began a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.

1918 – Latvia proclaimed its independence.

1921 – The Russo-Polish conflict ended with signing of Riga Treaty.

1928 – Mae West made her debut on Broadway in the production of “Diamond Lil.”

1940 – Germany invaded Norway and Denmark.

1942 – In the Battle of Bataan, American and Filipino forces were overwhelmed by the Japanese Army.

1945 – National Football League officials decreed that it was mandatory for football players to wear socks in all league games.

1945 – At Bari, Italy, the Liberty exploded and killed 360 people. The ship was carrying aerial bombs.

1947 – 169 people were killed and 1,300 were injured by a series of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

1950 – Bob Hope made his first television appearance on “Star-Spangled Review” on NBC-TV.

1957 – The Suez Canal was cleared for all shipping.

1959 – NASA announced the selection of America’s first seven astronauts.

1963 – Winston Churchill became the first honorary U.S. citizen.

1965 – “TIME” magazine featured a cover with the entire “Peanuts” comic gang.

1965 – The Houston Astrodome held its first baseball game.

1967 – The first Boeing 737 was rolled out for use.

1968 – Murdered civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was buried.

1976 – The U.S. and Russia agreed on the size of nuclear tests for peaceful use.

1981 – The U.S. Submarine George Washington struck and sunk a small Japanese freighter in the East China Sea. The Nissho Maru’s captain and first mate died.

1983 – The space shuttle Challenger concluded it first flight.

1984 – Nicaragua asked the World Court to declare U.S. support for guerilla raids illegal.

1985 – Japanese Premier Nakasone urged Japanese people to buy foreign products.

1986 – It was announced that Patrick Duffy’s character on the TV show Dallas would be returning after being killed off.

1987 – Dikye Baggett became the first person to undergo corrective surgery for Parkinson’s disease.

1988 – The U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Panama.

1989 – 16 civilians were killed during rioting in Soviet Georgia.

1989 – Hundreds of thousands marched past the White House in support of the right to abortion.

1991 – Georgia voted to secede from the U.S.S.R.

1992 – Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted in Miami, FL, of eight drug and racketeering charges.

1998 – The National Prisoner of War Museum opened in Andersonville, GA, at the site of an infamous Civil War camp.

1998 – More than 150 Muslims died in stampede in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on last day of the haj pilgrimage.

1999 – In Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh of the ruling Popular Rally for Progress and the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy was elected president.

1999 – In Niger, President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara was assassinated. Daouda Malam Wanke was designated president two days later.

2000 – CBS-TV aired “Failsafe.” It was the first live full-length show to by aired by CBS in 39 years.

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2002 – Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for drama for her play “Topdog/Underdog.”

born 1963-

By: Mariana Brandman, NWHM Predoctoral Fellow in Women’s History | 2020-2022

Though a high school teacher discouraged her from writing because of her poor spelling, Suzan-Lori Parks went on to become one of the most successful playwrights in the United States. The first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2002) and a pioneer of historically conscious and linguistically complex theater, her work is now taught at drama schools across the country. 

Parks was born on May 10, 1963 at Fort Knox in Kentucky to Donald and Francis McMillian Parks. Her father was a colonel in the United States Army, and Parks spent her early childhood in Odessa, Texas while her father served in Vietnam. The distinctive dialect she soaked in during her years in West Texas would influence her dialogue when she began writing for the stage. In 1974, Parks moved with her family to Germany where her father was stationed. She and her siblings attended local schools and became fluent in German. An early love for stories from mythology and folklore made Parks dream of becoming a writer, but after her high school teacher dissuaded her, she turned her focus to science. 

Source: womenshistory.com

1513 – Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain.

1525 – Albert von Brandenburg, the leader of the Teutonic Order, assumes the title “Duke of Prussia” and passed the first laws of the Protestant church, making Prussia a Protestant state.

1789 – The U.S. House of Representatives held its first meeting.

1832 – About 300 American troops of the 6th Infantry left Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, to confront the Sauk Indians in the Black Hawk War.

1834 – In New York City, Cornelius Lawrence became the first mayor to be elected by popular vote in a city election.

1839 – The first Intercollegiate Rodeo was held at the Godshall Ranch, Apple Valley, CA.

1864 – The U.S. Senate passed the 13th Amendment (S.J. Res. 16) by a vote of 38 to 6.

1873 – Alfred Paraf patented the first successful oleomargarine.

1911 – The first squash tournament was played at the Harvard Club in New York City.

1913 – The Seventeenth amendment was ratified, requiring direct  election of senators.

1935 – The Works Progress Administration was approved by the U.S. Congress.

1939 – Italy invaded Albania.

1942 – The Soviets opened a rail link to the besieged city of Leningrad.

1943 – Wendell Wilkie’s “One World” was published for the first time.

1946 – The League of Nations assembled in Geneva for the last time.

1947 – The first illustrated insurance policy was issued by the Allstate Insurance Company.

1952 – U.S. President Truman seized steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.

1953 – The bones of Sitting Bull were moved from North Dakota to South Dakota.

1962 – Bay of Pigs invaders got thirty years imprisonment in Cuba.

1974 – Hank Aaron hits 715th home run breaking Babe Ruth’s record.

1975 – Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians became first black manager of a major league baseball team.

1985 – India filed suit against Union Carbide for the Bhopal disaster.

1985 – Phyllis Diller underwent a surgical procedure for permanent eyeliner to eliminate the need for eyelid makeup.

1986 – Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, CA.

1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigned over remarks he had made. While on ABC’s “Nightline” Campanis said that blacks “may not have some of the necessities” to hold managerial jobs in major-league baseball.

1988 – Former U.S. President Reagan aid Lyn Nofzinger was sentenced to prison for illegal lobbying for Wedtech Corp.

1990 – In Nepal, King Birendra lifted the 30-year ban on political parties.

1992 – In Britain, the last issue of “Punch Magazine” was published.

1994 – Smoking was banned in the Pentagon and all U.S. military bases.

1998 – The widow of Martin Luther King Jr. presented new evidence in an appeal for new federal investigation of the assassination of her husband.

2000 – 19 U.S. troops were killed when a Marine V22 Osprey crashed during a training mission in Arizona.

2001 – Microsoft Corp. released Internet Explorer 6.0.

2002 – Ed McMahon filed a $20 million lawsuit against his insurance company, two insurance adjusters, and several environmental cleanup contractors. The suit alleged breach of contract, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress concerning a toxic mold that had spread through McMahon’s Beverly Hills home.

2002 – Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for drama for her play “Topdog/Underdog.”

Source: safealliance.org