The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
3,000+ People Killed
Library of Congress video
Saturday, April 18, 2020
On this day at the Diet of Worms, 1521,
MARTIN LUTHER REFUSES TO RECANT
Pope Declares Luther a Heretic
Issues Death Sentence
"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen." - Martin Luther.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
On this day in 1947,
Jackie Robinson Becomes First African American to Play in the Major Leagues
On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the Major Leagues. Robinson debuted at second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers and won rookie-of-the year. Robinson led the National League in batting in 1949, when he was named MVP, and was voted an All-Star from 1949 to 1954.
I remember sitting in the upper deck at Milwaukee County Stadium with my dad in or before 1955 to watch the Braves play the Dodgers. By that time the Dodgers had four other African Americans on their team: Roy Campanella, Junior Gilliam, Don Newcomb and Joe Black. Junior Gilliam was one of my favorite players. Campanella won the National League MVP award in 1951, 1953 and 1955, before a car crash in 1958 rendered him paralyzed from the shoulders down.
I had the 1956 Topps baseball card pictured above. My mother threw it and all my other baseball cards out during my freshman year at UW-Madison!
On this day in 1865,
PRESIDENT LINCOLN DIES
On this day in 1865, President Lincoln died from a gunshot to the head the night before while attending “Our American Cousin” at the Ford Theater.
Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, who hoped Lincoln’s assassination would somehow turn the tide of the Civil War. Booth had originally sought to kidnap Lincoln on March 20 and take him to the Confederate capital of Richmond but Lincoln failed to appear at the location where Booth and his conspirators lay in wait. Although Richmond had fallen and Lee had surrendered during the interim, Booth hatched a second plot to kill the top leaders of the Union government. At the same time that Lincoln was shot, Secretary of State Seward was shot in his home and seriously wounded. Vice President Andrew Johnson was also supposed to be shot but his would-be assassin chickened out.
Booth may have been stalking Lincoln for some time. On March 4, 1865, he was caught in a picture taken by Matthew Brady attending Lincoln's second inaugural address:
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Monday, April 13, 2020
On this day in 1861,
FORT SUMTER FALLS
CIVIL WAR BEGINS
30 hour shelling results in no fatalities other than a Confederate horse
felled by an errant Union cannon shot.
The first shot of the Civil War was fired by secessionist and slaveholder Edmund Ruffin. The first shot by Union forces was fired by Captain Abner Doubleday of baseball fame.
Although there were no human fatalities during the battle, a Union soldier was killed when his gun exploded in his hands as he attempted to fire the 47th shot in the 100-gun salute allowed the Union army by the Confederates before the Union army abandoned the fort.
Ruffin survived the war but killed himself while draped in the Confederate flag after Lee’s surrender because he did not want to live under “Yankee" rule.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
On this day in 1864,
The Fort Pillow Massacre
Confederates Slaughter African American Union Troops
Video summary
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