Today in History: February 11, 1916 Emma Goldman, a tireless crusader for women’s causes, was among the first to recognize the link between free speech and reproductive rights. So it comes as no surprise that her arrest on this day in history, 1916, was for violating the Comstock Act, which deemed it a federal offense to transport “obscene, lewd and/or […]

Today in History: February 10, 1957 On this day in history, 1957, famed writer Laura Ingalls Wilder died. Wilder’s writing career didn’t begin until she was 60 years old. The main purpose for writing her first book “Little House in the Big Woods,” was to ensure her beloved Pa’s stories wouldn’t be lost and forgotten. She often told her daughter […]

Today in History: February 7, 1914 One hundred years ago today, comedic genius and cinematic pioneer Charlie Chaplin made a few wardrobe choices that resulted in one of the most recognizable and iconic film characters of all time. Chaplin described his ensemble in his autobiography: “pants baggy, coat tight … hat small, shoes large.” He went on to say, “I […]

Today in History: February 5, 1919 By 1919, the motion picture business was a multi-million dollar enterprise, but most of the profits were going to the studio heads who kept the stars under contract, drastically limiting their earning power in most cases. That’s why some the major movie stars of the day such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, her husband […]

Today in History: February 4, 1938 “Magic Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” This simple question kicks off the world’s first full-length animated feature film, released across the United States on this day in 1938. An adaptation of a fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm collections, the evil queen, clearly having a mid-life crisis, is […]

Today in History: February 3, 1780 Just as the clock was striking midnight in Litchfield County, Connecticut on February 3, 1780, a young man brutally bludgeoned to death his landlord Caleb Mallory, Caleb’s wife Jane and their nine-year-old granddaughter. After the murderer robbed the home, he burned it down with two of the couple’s other sleeping grandchildren still inside, two […]

Today in History: January 31, 1990 After slogging through 14 years of red tape, the first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union opened its doors in Moscow this day in 1990. It was the largest McDonald’s restaurant in the world, with enough seating for 700 people and the ability to serve 15,000 to-go orders daily. McDonald’s Canada was at the helm […]

Today in History: January 30, 1969 On a cold and overcast January afternoon in London, the Beatles gathered on the roof of their company Apple Records on Savile Row, and gave what would be their last public performance. The live performance was meant to be the climax for the film “Let It Be.” Instead of highly polished, slickly produced and […]

Today in History: January 29, 1979 People joke at the beginning of the week about having a “case of the Mondays,” but on January 29, 1979 San Diego teenager Brenda Ann Spencer took her Monday morning angst way too far. Right as classes were about to begin at Grover Cleveland Elementary in a suburb just outside of San Diego, the […]

Today in History: January 28, 1985 The USA for Africa project was inspired by Bob Geldolf’s Band Aid, a group comprised of British superstars such as Bono, Bananarama, Sting, and George Michael. They had a monster hit with “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” just months earlier, which raised $8 million for famine relief. The idea for an American version was […]

Today in History: January 25, 1888 Approaching the 20th century, Americans became more interested in what was going on around the rest of the globe. For “the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge,” a group consisting of teachers, explorers, geographers, military officers, lawyers, cartographers and financiers gathered in Washington D.C. and formed the National Geographic Society on January 25, 1888. […]

Today in History: January 24, 1935 Canned beer made its first appearance on the shelves of American stores on this day in 1935, when the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company put 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale up for sale in Richmond, VA. Beer in a can had been a long time coming. The American Can Co. […]

Today in History: January 23, 1849 On this day in 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first known woman in the United State to earn a medical degree, graduating first in her class from Geneva Medical College in upstate New York. (There may or may not have been women in the U.S. before her who achieved this as well, but disguised […]

Today in History: January 22, 1901 When Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901 at the age of 81, she had reigned for 63 years, longer than any other monarch in English history. Most of her subjects had known no other sovereign but her, and her death was both a shock and a genuine blow to the millions who populated […]

Today in History: January 21, 1959 Carl Switzer was best known as Alfalfa, the freckled-faced character with the uncontrollable cowlick from the popular Hal Roach “Our Gang” films. Switzer joined the cast when he was seven years old, and appeared in over 75 of the classic shorts. Alfalfa had many stand-out moments during the series, but the one he is […]

Today in History: January 20, 1949 J. Edgar Hoover founded the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ran it with an iron fist (and quite possibly prettily painted fingernails) for 48 years. During the early days, Hoover and his G-men were looked upon as America’s guardian angels – keeping the U.S. safe from plotting radicals, cross-country bank robbers/thrill killers, and Nazi […]