The Story of Writing

A Philadelphia newspaper publishes one of the first pieces in the American colonies that called for freeing all slaves and ending slavery. And the birthday club includes feminist Juana de Ibarbourou and the writer John McPhee - with a reading from McPhee's "Annals of the Former World."

Bloody Sunday, and the birthday club includes Luther Burbank, Maurice Ravel, Erika Mitchell (aka E. L. James), and Bret Easton Ellis - with a reading from Luther Burbank's defense of the theory of evolution.

The Dred Scott decision is handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court and the birthday club includes Cyrano de Bergerac, Ring Lardner, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez - with a reading from Lardner's "Three Kings and a Pair."

John Cabot sets sail for the New World - with startling consequences, the Catholic Church bans the writing of Nicolaus Copernicus, and it's the birthday of Dora Marsden - with a reading from her weekly magazine "The New Freewoman."

The first woman to serve as a cabinet member of a U.S. President is sworn and the birthday club includes Antonio Vivaldi, Barbara Newhall Follett, and Khaled Hosseini. This episode also includes a reading from " Kabuliwala ," written by Rabindranath Tagore.

The U.S. passes the Missouri Compromise and the Comstock Act, the U.S. also creates the first National Forest, the Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the U.S. National Anthem, and it's the birthday of historian Ron Chernow. This episode includes a reading from "Carnival Jangle," by Alice Dunbar Nelson.

The U.S. prohibits the importation of slaves and the birthday club includes Sholem Aleichem, Kurt Weill, and Theodore Geisel - with a reading from Sholem Aleichem's short story "On the Fiddle."

The world's first national park is created and the birthday club includes Ralph Ellison and Harry Belafonte - with a reading from Ellison's landmark novel "Invisible Man."

The birthday club includes Michel de Montaigne, Ben Hecht, Betty Brings, and Lemony Snicket (or Daniel Handler), with a reading from Mountaigne's "Essays."

British lawmakers vote to stop fighting American colonists, the U.S. Congress takes control of Washington D.C., Abraham Lincoln gives one of the most important speeches of his life, and it is the birthday of the revered writer John Steinbeck - with a reading from his classic "The Grapes of Wrath."

The birthday club includes two U.S. National Parks, Victor Hugo, Levi Strauss, Fats Domino, and Johnny Cash - with a reading from Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

The birthday club includes Mary Coyle Chase, Anthony Burgess, Larry Gelbart, George Harrison, and Chelsea Handler - with a reading from Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange."

It is the birthday of U.S. Brigadier General Telford Taylor and it was on this day that the U.S. Congress impeached the President for the first time - including a a reading from Judith Ortiz Cofer's book "The Latin Deli: Telling the Lives of Barrio Women."

On is the anniversary of W. E. B. Du Bois' birthday, we look back on how his writing and other intellectual work changed perceptions and attitudes in the U.S. The U.S. Marines erect the flag on Mount Surabachi on Iwo Jima during the Second World War. And we hear a reading from Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk."

The "Long Telegram" is sent from Russia to the U.S., "Moose Murders" opens - and closes - on Broadway, and it is the birthday of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer - with a reading from his "The World as Will and Representation."

The first editions of "The Communist Manifesto" and "The New Yorker" magazine are published, and the birthday club includes Erma Bombeck and Nina Simone - with a reading from Bombeck's "Family: The Ties that Bind - and Gag"

"The Barber of Seville" and "Swan Lake" premier, Le Figaro publishes the "Futurist Manifesto," the U.S. Congress passes the Blain Act, the Saturday Evening Post magazine publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms: "Freedom of Speech," and U.S. movie studios allow the nation's propaganda arm censor their movie scripts. It is the birthday o...

Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the U.S. Army to forcibly relocate Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast to internment camps, Betty Friedan publishes "The Feminine Mystique," and it is the birthday of novelist Amy Tan - with a reading from the Munson Report, which found that almost all Japanese Americans were loyal to the United States.

It is the birthday of novelist Toni Morrison and the anniversary of the publishing of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain. This episode includes a reading from Morrison's groundbreaking novel "Song of Solomon."

The birthday club includes activist Huey P. Newton, gender-fluid adventurer Isabelle Eberhardt, and Rabbi Chaim Potok - with a reading from Newton's "Revolutionary Suicide."

The first anti-discrimination law in the U.S. goes into effect - in Alaska. It is the birthday of hitmaker Otis Blackwell. And today's reading is from Elizabeth Peratrovich's argument to pass Alaska's anti-discrimination law.

It is the birthday of women's suffragist Susan B. Anthony and the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' letter revealing how little he knew of the places he saw. Also, a reading from Anthony's "On the Campaign for Divorce Law Reform."

The inventor of the typewriter and QWERTY keyboard was born on this day, as was reporter Carl Bernstein. And Voyager 1 took the picture titled "The Pale Blue Dot." Today's reading - about that dot - was written by astronomer and author Carl Bernstein.

Hundreds of the Knights Templar are arrested - inspiring superstition around Friday the 13th, ASCAP forms, the WWII firebombing of Dresden begins, Australia apologizes to the "Lost Generations," and it is the birthday of Eleanor Farjeon - and a reading of Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "We Real Cool."

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on this day in the same year. This episode looks at their decisions, written and otherwise, with readings from Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" and from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.