The Story of Writing

The first U.S. State of the Union and the birthday club includes Gypsy Rose Lee and Graham Chapman - with a reading from Willa Cather's "O Pioneers."

Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the birthday club includes Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson and Zora Neale Hurston - with a reading from Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

The birthday club includes Charles Sumner, Alan Watts, E. L. Doctorow, and Elizabeth Strout - with a reading from Watts on writing.

Ford switches to an 8-hour workday, Samuel Becket's "Waiting for Godot" premiers, and the birthday club includes Stella Gibbons, Umberto Eco, and Hayao Miyazaki - with a reading from Gibbons' "Cold Comfort Farm."

Solomon Northup regains his freedom and it is the birthday of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin - with a reading from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities."

The birthday club includes J. R. R. Tolkien, Anne Stevenson, and Stephen Stills - with a reading from Agatha Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd."

The Palmer Raids sweep up thousands of foreign-born U.S. citizens and it is the birthday of Robert Marshall - with a reading from the 1964 Wilderness Act.

The U.S. bans importation of enslaved people and - nearly 60 years later - enacts the Emancipation Proclamation. The birthday club includes Maria Edgeworth, E. M. Forster, and J. D. Salinger - with a reading from Edgeworth's "Castle Rackrent."

Thomas Edison unveils his incandescent light and the birthday club includes Simon Wiesenthal and John Denver - with a reading from "The Liberty Of Man, Woman And Child," by Robert Ingersoll.

The birthday club includes Rudyard Kipling, Bo Diddley, Patti Smith, and Douglas Coupland - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility."

Vaclav Havel is elected President of Czechoslovakia and the language Akkala Sami is considered extinct. The birthday club includes Rick Danko, Marianne Faithfull, and Paula Poundstone - with a reading from "Around the World in 80 Days," by Jules Verne.

The U.S. Endangered Species Act is signed into law and happy birthdays to Catharine Maria Sedgwick and Charlie Pierce - with a reading from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."

The Flushing Remonstrance, Charles Darwin sets sail on the ship HMS Beagle, and the musical play "Show Boat" premiers on Broadway. Happy birthdays to Cokie Roberts and Sarah Vowell - with a reading from J. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan."

Kwanzaa is celebrated for the first time, the Supreme Soviet votes to dissolve itself and the Soviet Union, and happy birthdays to Mary Somerville, Henry Miller, and David Sedaris - with a reading from Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman."

Happy birthdays to Sir Isaac Newton and Carlos Castaneda - with a reading from The Secret Garden , by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

A reading of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” written by Clement Clarke Moore.

Jane Austen publishes "Emma," gender equality takes a step forward in the UK, and the birthday club includes Norman Maclean and Jorma Kaukonen - with a reading from Maclean's "A River Runs through It."

Beethoven gives the performance of his career, Mao sends China's urban teenagers to be educated by rural poverty, and Doctors Without Borders is founded - with a reading from Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment."

Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" premiers, the crossword first appears, and happy birthdays to Maria Cadilla and Frank Zappa - with a reading from Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People."

South Carolina is the first to secede from the Union, Captain America appears for the first time, and the film "It's a Wonderful Life" premiers - with a reading from Eugene Debs' statement to the court when he was convicted of sedition.

Thomas Paine publishes his first pamphlet "The American Crisis" in support of independence for colonists. Happy birthdays to Carter Woodson and Edith Piaf - with a reading from Woodson's "The Mis-Education of the Negro."

"The Nutcracker" premiers in Russia and happy birthdays to Saki and Joel Hirschhorn - with a reading from Saki's "The Chronicles of Clovis."

"Vogue" publishes its first issue and happy birthdays to Ford Madox Ford and William Safire - with a reading from Ford's "The Good Soldier."

Happy birthday to Jane Austen - with a reading from her masterpiece "Pride and Prejudice."

Italo Marchiony gets the patent for an ice cream cone maker, the film "Gone With the Wind" premiers, and psychiatrists declare that homosexuality is not a disorder, and the Downing Street Declaration makes it possible for Irish self-governance - with a reading from Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment."