The Story of Writing

Thurgood Marshall is nominated to the U.S Supreme Court, the New York Times publishes the Pentagon Papers, and it is the birthday of William Butler Yeats - with a reading of Yeats' "The Second Coming."

Virginia adopts the influential Declaration of Rights written by George Mason, on her 13 th birthday, Anne Frank gets a blank book, and the U.S. Supreme Court rules that interracial couples can marry. It is Rona Jaffe's birthday - with a reading from her book "The Best of Everything."

Civil rights come into focus on this day in 1963. A Buddhist monk sets himself on fire to protest religious oppression in Vietnam, Alabama Governor George Wallace stands in a UA doorway to prevent two Black students from attending the University, and Pres. John F. Kennedy promises new civil rights legislation. NAACP activist Medgar Evers is assassinated. This episode includes a reading from "...

So-called "spectral evidence" is allowed in Massachusetts Bay Colony and result in the executions of the Salem Witch Trials. On this day, Howlin' Wolf and Saul Bellow were born on this day - with a reading from Bellow's "Herzog."

France and China sign the Treaty of Tientsin and the birthday club includes Cole Porter, Robert McNamara, and Jackie Wilson - with a reading from Porter's "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love."

The U.S. Bill of Rights takes shape, the Antiquities Act is passed, George Orwell's "1984" is published and it is the birthday of comedian Joan Rivers - with a reading from "1984."

Spain and Portugal carve up the New World in the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Petition of Right is passed in England, and American colonists say they should form an independent nation. The birthday club includes Gwendolyn Brooks and Louise Erdrich - with a reading from Brooks' "Maud Martha."

The Battle of Midway and D-Day are both tied to June 6th and we celebrate the birthdays of Alexander Pushkin, Angelo Moriando, and Thomas Mann - with a reading from Mann's "The Magic Mountain."

Harriet Beecher Stowe's landmark novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is first published, Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated, and "Tank Man" steps into history. It is the birthday Federico Garcia Lorca - with a reading from his "Sonnet of the Sweet Complaint."

The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment, the U.S. refuses to allow refugees fleeing the Nazis to enter the country, the evacuation of Dunkirk ends, and it is the birthday of King George III - with a reading from Winston Churchill's speech "We Shall Fight On the Beaches."

DeSoto claims Florida, the Dutch West India Company is established, and it's the birthday of Memphis Minnie, Allen Ginsberg, Larry McMurtry, and Curtis Mayfield - with a reading from McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove."

England enrages American colonists by expanding the Quartering Act and the birthday club includes Thomas Hardy, Dorothy West, and Norton Juster - with a reading from West's newspaper column "Fond Memories of a Black Childhood."

Scotch Whisky first appears in print, Charles Baudelaire publishes his landmark book "Les fleur du mal" or "Flowers of Evil," Margaret Chase Smith delivers her speech "Declaration of Conscience," the Heimlich maneuver is published, and it is the birthdays of Charles Kay Ogden and Colleen McCullough - with a reading from Baudelaire's "Les fleur du mal."

The birthday club includes Walt Whitman, Fred Allen, Al Young, Svetlana Alexievich - with a reading from Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric."

The birthday club includes Countee Cullen, Mel Blanc, Benny Goodman, James Chaney, and Idina Menzel - with a reading of Cullen's "Saturday's Child."

Sojourner Truth gives her speech "Ain't I a Woman?" Igor Stravinsky premiers his "Rite of Spring" and Hillary and Norgay summit Mt. Everest. It is the birthday of Bob Hope and T. H. White - with a reading from White's "The Sword in the Stone."

The Sierra Club is written into existence, so is Amnesty International, and the birthday club includes Ian Fleming, T-Bone Walker, and Maeve Binchy - with a reading from John Muir's "My First Summer in the Sierra."

On this day, a look at the work of Julia Ward Howe, Dashiell Hammett, and Rachel Carson - with a reading from Carson's "Silent Spring."

The US House Un-American Activities Committee holds its first meeting and the birthday club includes Miles Davis, Jack Kevorkian, Levon Helm, Stevie Nicks, Alan Hollinghurst, Lauryn Hill, and Raina Telgemeier - with a reading from Hollinghurst's "The Line of Beauty."

The US Constitutional Convention begins, JFK calls for putting a man on the moon, and "Star Wars" hits movie screens. The birthday club includes Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rosario Castellanos - with a reading from Emerson's Essays.

The Judgement of Paris puts Napa Valley wines on the oenophile map and the birthday club includes Bob Dylan, Michael Chabon, and Lorella Cedroni - with a reading from "Italian Critics of Capitalism," edited by Cedroni.

The birthday club includes Margaret Fuller, Isabella Ford, Par Lagerkvist, Scott O'Dell, Margaret Wise Brown, and Mitch Albom - with a reading from Fuller's "Woman in the 19th Century."

Lewis and Clark start their exploration of the American West, the Associated Press gets its start, and Verdi premiers "Requiem." The birthday club includes Su Xun and Arthur Conan Doyle - with a reading from Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet."

"Bleeding Kansas" begins, Clara Barton establishes the American Red Cross, and the birthday club includes Alexander Pope, "Fats" Waller, and Harold Robbins - with a reading from Pope's "An Essay on Man."

William Shakespeare's sonnets are published, Levi Strauss gets the patent for denim blue jeans (with copper rivets that held the jeans together), and the birthday club includes Honore de Balzac and John Stuart Mill. This episode includes a reading of Shakespeare's sonnet number 17.