The Story of Writing

Louis Pasteur uses a vaccine to save a nine-year-old boy who was mauled by a rabid dog, Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a military bus, and the birthday club includes Marc Chagall and Viola Desmond - with a reading of Lucille Clifton's poem "won't you celebrate with me."

Isaac Newton publishes his masterwork: "Principia," Frederick Douglass gives his enduring speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" The bikini makes a splash when it's introduced at a swimming pool in Paris and it is Bill Watterson's birthday - with a reading from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

The writing - and politics - of the Declaration of Independence - with a reading from a letter from delegate Benjamin Rush to U.S. President John Adams.

General George Washington takes command of the Continental Army, and the Battle of Gettysburg comes to an end, and it's the birthday of writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman - with a reading from her short story "If I Were A Man."

The U.S. decides to sever ties with the UK, the ship "Amistad" was overtaken by Africans kidnapped to become slaves in America, Jean Sibelius's "Finlandia" premieres, signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the birthday club includes Hermann Hesse and Thurgood Marshall - with a reading from Hesse's letter to a reader who expressed hopelessness.

The oldest surviving benchmarks for global sea level tells a grim tale, the U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg begins, Canada is born, the WWI Battle of the Somme begins, and it's the birthday of George Sand - with a reading from one of her letters to one of her former lovers.

The Wilberforce-Huxley evolution debate at Oxford becomes an exchange of thinly veiled insults, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Albert Einstein publishes On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, the National Organization for Women is established, and it's the birthday of Joan Murrell Owens - with a reading from Rachel Carson's "The Edge of the Sea.&...

Fire rips through Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London and the birthday club includes Celia Thaxter, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and Stokely Carmichael - with a reading from Carmichael's speech to UC Berkeley.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, European powers sign the Treaty of Versailles, and it's Mel Brooks' birthday - with a reading from his memoir "All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business."

The birthday club includes Emma Goldman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Helen Keller, and Grace Lee Boggs - with a reading from Boggs' "The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century."

American soldiers arrive in France to join the Allies fighting WWI, the Allies that won Victory in Europe signed the charter creating the United Nations, Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" was first published, J. K. Rowling published her first Harry Potter novel in the UK, and it's the birthday of Pearl S. Buck - with a reading from Buck's "My Several Worlds: A...

Custer makes his last stand and the birthday club includes David Douglas and George Orwell - with a reading from Orwell's "1984."

The birthday club includes Ambrose Bierce and Mary Wesley - with a reading from Wesley's "The Camomile Lawn."

The U.S. approves its first birth-control pill, Title IX is amended, Nixon incriminates himself, and it's the 10th anniversary of Brexit - with a reading from Julie Phillips' "What Contraception Meant to a Century of Women Writers."

Establishing the U.S. Department of Justice and the Cuyahoga River catches on fire, again. This episode includes a reading from a speech in 1866 by Ohio Representative William Lawrence on the need for a Department of Justice.

Marie-Joseph Angelique is sentenced to death for burning Old Montreal, three voting-rights organizers are murdered in Mississippi, and it is Jean-Paul Sartre's birthday - with a reading from Sartre's "Nausea."

Samuel Morse gets the patent for the telegraph, the destructive Detroit race riot of 1943 begins, and it is the birthday of Lillian Hellman - with a reading from her book "An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir."

The first game of baseball, Juneteenth, and JFK's civil rights legislation - with readings from Ralph Ellison and JFK, himself. Link to the Juneteenth reading list compiled by the National Museum of African American History and Culture https://nmaahc.si.edu/visit/museum-store/juneteenth-reading-list

Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated at Waterloo, Charles Darwin learns that another naturalist is about to publish a theory of evolution nearly identical to Darwin's, England's PM Winston Churchill gives his speech now called "Their Finest Hour," and it is the birthday of Paul McCartney and Roger Ebert - with a reading from Churchill's speech "Their Finest Hour."

Sir Francis Drake makes a land claim on America's Pacific Coast that inspired the idea of Manifest Destiny. The Battle of Bunker Hill - the first salvo in America's Revolutionary War - begins near Boston, the Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor, Nixon's so-called "plumbers" break into the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington D.C.'s Watergate Building, and...

The first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is formed, Abraham Lincoln gives his "A House Divided" speech, it is Bloomsday! And it is the birthday of novelist Joyce Carol Oates - with a reading from her book "Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang."

England's King John signs the Magna Carta, Arlington National Cemetery is established, and the birthday club includes Josiah Henson and Harry Nilsson - with a reading from Nilsson's song "Everybody's Talking."

It's Flag Day in the U.S., Charles Babbage proposes his "difference engine," the Bear Flag Revolt made northern Mexico the U.S. state of California, and it is Harriet Beecher Stowe's birthday - with a reading from her landmark novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Miranda rights become a requirement, Thurgood Marshall is nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, "The New York Times" starts publishing the Pentagon Papers, and it is the birthday of poet William Butler Yeats. This episode includes a reading of the poem by Yeats "When You Are Old."

The state of Virginia adopts George Mason's Declaration of Rights, Anne Frank is given a blank diary for her 13th birthday, and SCOTUS announces its ruling in Loving v. Virginia, and the birthday club includes Rona Jaffe. This episode includes a reading from Jaffe's book "Class Reunion."