1941: Rosa Parks BDAY
2025: – Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden.
Rosa Parks (born Rosa Louise McCauley) was born on this day in Tuskegee, Alabama!
Belley-Mars, Jean-Baptiste (1747–1805) : Jean-Baptiste Belley-Mars, who represented Saint-Domingue in the French National Convention in Paris in 1794, is widely credited with persuading that body to abolish slavery in France and its overseas colonies. Belley-Mars as a boy was kidnapped by slave catchers on the island of Goree near Dakar, Senegal, and shipped off to the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue (now the Republic of Haiti). He purchased his freedom from his owner, enlisted in the military, and served in a contingent of black and mulatto troops called Volunteer Chasseurs that was sent to fight against the British in Georgia during in the American Revolutionary War. Returning to Saint-Domingue, Belley-Mars became a well-to-do planter with a penchant for politics.
News from France in 1789 of the storming of the Bastille set in motion revolution in Saint-Domingue and pitted whites (grands blancs and petits blancs) against black slaves and mulatto freedmen led by Toussaint L’Overture demanding liberty and equality. When in 1793 the Jacobin Léger-Félicité Sonthonax was dispatched to administer the colony, Belley-Mar, now a middle-aged officer, joined him in crushing a rebellion of the whites and opposing L’Overture. As a reward for his loyalty, Belley-Mars was one of three men and the only black person elected to represent the colony at the Convention Nationale in Paris.
As reported in Le Moniteur Officiel, on February 4, 1794, after having their credentials authenicated, the three delegates from Saint-Domingue were welcomed into the hall of the Convention with exuberant applause, hugs, and, as customary in France, kisses on both cheeks. The next morning, Belley-Mars further secured his place in history when he delivered to the Convention a lengthy, emotionally-charged speech which denounced the inhumanity of slavery and demanded its abolition. Carried away by the moment, a white delegate rose to voice his shame and rebuked the nation for the horrors it allowed in the colonies.
Ossie Davis , byname of Raiford Chatman Davis (born December 18, 1917, Cogdell, Georgia, U.S.—died February 4, 2005, Miami Beach, Florida), American writer, actor, director, and social activist who was known for his contributions to African American theatre and film and for his passionate support of civil rights and humanitarian causes. He was also noted for his artistic partnership with his wife, Ruby Dee, which was considered one of the theatre and film world’s most distinguished.
After attending Howard University in Washington, D.C., Davis moved to New York City to pursue a career as a writer. He served in the army during World War II but returned to New York City after the war with an interest in acting. In 1946 he made his Broadway debut in Jeb, during the run of which he met Dee, whom he married in 1948.
Davis and Dee frequently appeared together on stage, screen, and television—most notably in Purlie Victorious (1961), a play written by Davis and later adapted for the screen as Gone Are the Days (1963). Davis directed and wrote the films Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and Countdown to Kusini (1976). He continued to work into the 21st century, combining his acting pursuits with writing and civil rights campaigning. Davis made several films with Spike Lee, including Do the Right Thing (1989) and Malcolm X (1992), in which he reenacted the real-life eulogy he had given for the fallen civil rights leader. Davis also spoke at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. The recipients of numerous honours, Davis and Dee were jointly awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1995 and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004.
On this day in:
1790 John Bachman was born. A Naturalist who wrote some of the text for John James Audubon's albums of birds and mammals of North America. He also published his own works on botany, agriculture and southern animals.
1810 Alexis Benoit Soyer was born. French chef and author. Chef of the London Reform Club. He opened kitchens in Ireland during the famine to sell food at 1/2 price and was an advisor on food to the British army during the Crimean War. Invented several stoves and kitchen utensils. Wrote 'The Pantropheon; or History of Food' (1853), 'A Shilling Cookery Book for the People' (1854), ‘Soyer's Charitable Cookery’ (1847).
1854 Cadbury received a Royal Warrant as "manufacturers of cocoa and chocolate to Queen Victoria"
1879 John H. Heinz received a patent for an 'Improvement in Vegetable-Assorters.' ("machines for assorting vegetables, fruits, pickles etc. according to their size").
1887 Interstate Commerce Act created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate Railroads, the first industry to be subject to Federal regulation.
1894 Quebec, Canada holds its first Winter Carnival.
1906 Clyde W. Tombaugh was born. An American astronomer who discovered the planet Pluto in 1930. Born on a farm near Streator, Illinois, his first telescope was made from old farm equipment parts.
1925 Robert Koldewey died (born Sept 10, 1855). A German archaeologist who discovered and confirmed the existence and location of the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon (excavations 1899-1917).
1930 Candy maker Frank C. Mars of Minnesota introduced the Snickers bar in 1930.
1941 Roy J. Plunkett received U.S. patent No. 2,230,654 for Teflon ("a new composition of matter which is highly resistant to corrosive influences and to oxidation, and which can be molded and spun and put to a wide variety of uses where its peculiar properties would be advantageous."). He had discovered it by accident in 1938.
1946 Dan Quayle is born. Destined to make ‘potatoe’ famous.
1952 Jerry Shirley of the rock group 'Humble Pie' was born.
1964 'Noodles', guitarist of 'The Offspring' was born.
1983 Karen Carpenter died from anorexia nervosa.
1998 Bill Gates was hit with a cream pie (cake?) in Brussels. The person responsible for the event was Noel Godin whose hobby is throwing cream cakes/pies at celebrities. He has written a book about his adventures.
2013 France overturned a 200 year-old law that banned women from wearing trousers.
2013 Canada withdraws the penny from circulation.