The Story of Writing

President George Washington's Farewell Address, and the birthday club includes Sadie Delany, Rachel Field, and William Golding - with a reading from "Death Comes for the Archbishop," written by Willa Cather.

Tiffany gets fancy, the New-York Daily Times, Booker T. Washington delivers the Atlanta Exposition speech on race relations, and the Columbia Broadcasting Service signs on for the first time - with a reading from "Anne of Green Gables," by L.M. Boyd.

The signing of the U.S. Constitution, Antietam, and today's birthday club includes William Carlos Williams, John Creasey, Elizabeth Enright, Mary Stewart, and Hank Williams - with a reading from "Thimble Summer," by Elizabeth Enright.

The signing of the Montreal Protocol, and today's birthday club features Francis Parkman, Miriam Benjamin, and H. A. Rey - with a reading from Parkman's "The Oregon Trail."

Charles Darwin lands on the Galápagos Islands, Marilyn Monroe strikes an iconic pose, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and happy birthday to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - with a reading from her book "We Should All Be Feminists."

Henry Hudson reaches the river that now bears his name, the Battle on the Plains of Abraham, the bombardment of Baltimore, Margaret Chase Smith and James Meredith become "firsts," the adoption of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People, and happy birthday to Mildred D. Taylor - with a reading from "A Modern Utopia," by H.G. Wells.

Handel finishes his masterpiece, "Messiah," and today's birthday club includes William H. Armstrong, Kate Millett, Bernard MacLaverty, and Bonnie Jo Campbell - with a reading from "The Loony-Bin Trip," by Kate Millett.

John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia, Elias Howe is granted a patent for his sewing machine, and the birthday club includes Hanna Webster Foster, Mary Oliver, and Steven Jay Gould - with a reading from "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases," written by Ida B. Wells-Barnett.

The Stono Rebellion, the Compromise of 1850, and happy birthdays to Leo Tolstoy and my dad (those are two different people) - with a reading from Tolstoy's "War and Peace."

Michelangelo unveils his sculpture "David," the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance is published - again, the Great Galveston Hurricane slams into Texas, the Van Buren sisters finish their 5,500-mile motorcycle ride, and Nixon is pardoned - with a reading from "The Picture of Dorian Gray," by Oscar Wilde.

General William T. Sherman orders the evacuation of Atlanta, and the birthday club includes, Louisa Ann Swain, Elinor Wylie, Edith Sitwell, Dorothy Marie Donnelly, and Sonny Rollins - with a reading from "The Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. By Himself."

The Mayflower sets sail, Salem is settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony, Louisa Ann Swain casts an historic vote, and the birthday club includes Isabella Leonarda, Frances Wright, Jane Addams, and Robert Pirsig - with a reading from a speech on equality by Jane Addams.

D'Artagnan comes between two of the most flamboyant figures of 17th Century France, Czar Peter I taxed nobles' facial hair, the UK declares war on China in order to move more opium from the Far East to the British Isles, In Post-WW2, U.S. officials take radio propagandist Tokyo Rose into custody, and happy birthday to Jonathan Kozol - with a reading from his book " Savage Inequalities...

The founding of "the Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels," the first power plant to supply electricity to paying customers, Kodak is trademarked and the patent is issued for film on a roll, Evelyn Waugh publishes "A Handful of Dust," the Peekskill riots, and the birthday club includes Richard Wright and Beyonce - with a reading from "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,&qu...

The Lord Protectors of the Commonwealth of England, the Treaty of Paris, Frederick Douglass escapes slavery, The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the U.S. and China formally ratify the Paris Global Climate Agreement - with a reading from "My Escape from Slavery," by Frederick Douglass.

"Talk softly and carry a big stick," The Japanese Instrument of Surrender, Tibetan Democracy Day, CBS extends its weeknight news show, and a birthday club that includes: Lucretia Peabody Hale, Eugene Field, and Billy Preston - with a reading from Theodore Roosevelt's essay "Lincoln and Free Speech."

For the first time, a woman became a telephone operator, the Germans invaded Poland and started World War II, and happy birthdays to Johann Pachelbel, Liz Carpenter, and Lily Tomlin - with a reading from "The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood," by Elspeth Huxley.

Sherman attacks Atlanta, Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon, the Anglo-Russian Convention, The U.S. Congress passes its first Neutrality Act, the Nazis mount a false flag attack to justify their invasion of Poland, and happy birthday to Roger Dean, Van Morrison, and Itzhak Perlman - with a reading from "The Song of the Lark," by Willa Cather.

Rescue Day for the crew of the Endurance, Thurgood Marshall confirmed as SCOTUS justice, and quite a birthday club: Mary Shelley, Virginia Lee Burton, Kitty Wells, Molly Ivins, and Anna Politkovskaya - with a reading from "Dr. Zhivago," written by Boris Pasternak.

The Beatles last concert, in front of a paying audience, Netflix joins the birthday club with John Locke, Charlie Parker, and Temple Grandin - with a reading from "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," by John Locke.

The first edition of the Scientific American magazine is published, Caleb Bradham changes the name of his "Brad's Drink" to something more soothing, and it is the anniversary of Emmett Till's death in 1955 as well as the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.

The Famous Five and the "persons" question, the Kellogg-Briand pact, and the birthday club includes Hegel, C.S. Forester, and Alice Coltrane - with a reading from "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the U.S. patent for the steamboat, Quebec adopts the Charter of the French Language, and today's birthday club includes Zona Gale, Caroline Pafford Miller, and Ben Bradlee - with a reading from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Great Moon Hoax, discovering the bacteria that caused the bubonic plague, the U.S. National Park Service is created, instant ramen noodles are marketed for the first time, and in today's birthday club: Walt Kelly and Leonard Bernstein - with a reading from "Jane Eyre," by Charlotte Bronte.

The last writing in Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Treaty of Cordoba, the Panic of 1857, Yippies disrupt trading on the NYSE by throwing dollar bills onto the trading floor, birthdays for Howard Zinn, Paulo Coelho, and Ava DuVernay - with a reading from "My Antonia," by Willa Cather.