|
November
in history
Compiled
by Chris Rowan
Thanksgiving
In
1621, Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony authorized
a three day Celebration of the Harvest. The celebration wasn’t
repeated the following year, and it wasn’t until the 1800’s that
states began to celebrate Thanksgiving as an annual custom.(New
York adopted the holiday in 1817). Thanksgiving became a national
holiday when President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of observance
in 1863. It now falls on the fourth Thursday of November.
Veterans’
Day
Since
1954, all Americans who served in wartime have been honored on
November 11th. Before 1954, November 11th
was observed as Armistice Day – which commemorated the day in
1918 when fighting ended in World War I.
World
History
In
1917 (on November 7) Bolsheviks (Communists) seized power in Russia.
In 1938 (on Nov. 9) Anti-Jewish mobs went on rampages throughout
Nazi Germany. This event became known as Kristallnacht – Night
of the
Broken Glass.
In 1978 (on November 19) the Rev. Jim Jones led over 900 of his
followers to their deaths in
Jonestown, Guyana in the largest recorded mass suicide.
American
History
In
1769 (on November 2) Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola first
sighted San Francisco Bay.
In 1825, (on November 4) the Erie Canal opened.
In 1963 (on November 22) President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
in Dallas.
In 1979 (on November 4) militants seized the U.S.Embassy in Iran
and took 90 people hostage - including some 65 Americans .
Firsts
On
November 2, 1920 the first continuous radio broadcasts began from
station KDKA in Pittsburgh.
In 1938 (on Armistice Day) singer Kate Smith introduced a radio
audience to “God Bless
America.”
Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel:
(212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of
the publisher. © 2001.
|
