On this day in the year 161 of the common era (CE) the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, though power sharing arrangements had not been uncommon in the later days of the Roman Republic, this was an unprecedented political arrangement in the Roman Empire; one hundred and sixty years later, the Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the Dies Solis Invicti, named for the Celtic god Sol Invictus, literally translated, Day of the Sun…Unconquered, or day of the unconquered sun (our Sunday), should be observed as a day of rest throughout the Empire.
On this day in the year 1530 CE the English king Henry VIII's divorce request is denied by Pope Clement VII
On this day in 1644 CE the territory of Massachusetts establishes the first two-chamber legislature in colonies; one hundred and thirty years later, king George III of England charges colonists in Boston with attempting to injure British commerce at the “Boston Tea Party”, paving the way for the closing of the port in Boston. Twenty-seven years after that, in 1801 CE Massachusetts becomes the first state to enact a “voter registration” law.
In 1785 CE, Geologist James Hutton presents his full theory of uniformitarianism at a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; fourteen years later, the Royal Institution of Great Britain is founded, dedicated to scientific research and education.
In 1843 CE, Edward Kavanagh, the first Catholic governor in the United States takes office of in the state of Maine; seven years later, Daniel Webster endorses the “Compromise of 1850,” proposed by Henry Clay to settle issues over slavery between states.
In 1854 CE Charles Miller patents the first sewing machine for the purpose of stitching buttonholes in the United States; Twenty-two years later, Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone. Thirty-five years after that, in 1911 CE, Willis Farnsworth of Petaluma, California patents coin-operated locker.
In 1857 CE, in baseball it is decided that nine innings constitutes an official game, not nine runs; twenty-three years later, the Cincinnati Red Stockings become the first professional baseball team, beginning an eight month tour of Midwest and east coast.
In 1881 CE Southern University opens in New Orleans; six years later, North Carolina State University is founded by the North Carolina General Assembly.
In 1908 CE Cincinnati Mayor Mark Breith stands before the city council and announces that "women are not physically fit to operate automobiles;" thirty-one years later Glamour magazine begins publishing.
In 1912 CE Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen announces that his team was the first to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911, thirty-four days before British explorer Robert Falcon Scott.
In 1917 CE the first jazz record is released on a 78 rpm player, recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band for the Victor Talking Machine Company, featuring the Dixie Jazz Band One Step on one side and, Livery Stable Blues on the other. Twenty-two years later, Guy Lombardo & his Royal Canadians make their first recording of Auld Lang Syne.
In 1925 CE the American Negro Labor Congress (ANLC) is established in Chicago by the Communist Party USA to advance African American rights, challenge segregationist unions, and recruit Black workers into a radical, interracial labor movement. It campaigned against lynching and Jim Crow and was later renamed the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. Forty years later, Alabama state troopers clash with six hundred protesters in Selma, Alabama on a day known as "Bloody Sunday,” protesters, including future congressman John Lewis were beaten and hospitalized for their efforts at practicing non-violent resistance to the civil oppression that African Americans experienced (and continue to experience) daily. Two years after that, in 1967 CE, Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa begins an eight year jail sentence for defrauding the Teamsters Union & jury tampering…his sentence was commuted four years later.
In 1926 CE the first transatlantic telephone call takes place between London, England and New York, New York; three years later, the First nonstop flight made from America to Asia takes place across the Bering Straits (Nome to North Cape), flown by Noel Wien and Calvin Cripe for Wien Air Alaska.
In 1930 CE, Georgetown High School of Chicago defeats Homer 1-0 in basketball.
In 1936 CE, German dictator Adolf Hitler breaks the Treaty of Versailles by sending troops into the demilitarized Rhineland, six years later the first African American cadet pilots graduate from the flying school at Tuskegee, Alabama. Three years after that, in 1945 CE, Josep Broz Tito forms his Government in Yugoslavia.
In 1946 CE, Bikini Atoll islanders are evacuated by the United States (U.S.) government to make way for a nuclear testing site; twenty years later the U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. Three years after that, in 1969 CE, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan; six years later, the U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. Thirty-eight years after that, in 2013 CE, the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council approves further North Korean sanctions for its nuclear testing.
In 1962 CE the ground-breaking report: Smoking and Health is published by the British Royal College of Physicians, it is the first major report to warn of the dangers of smoking.
In 1962 CE the Beatles make their broadcasting debut on BBC radio; one year later, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman record their self-titled album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, widely considered to be the greatest execution of several jazz standards by a male vocalist of all time, at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
In 1968 CE the British Broadcasting Company airs the news on television for the first time in color.
In 1987 CE In Las Vegas, Nevada “Iron” Mike Tyson beats James “Bonecrusher” Smith by unanimous decision in twelve rounds combining the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association heavyweight titles.
In 1989 CE, Iran drops diplomatic relations with Britain over Salman Rushdie's book, the Satanic Verses; five years later, the African National Council and its chief, Nelson Mandela, reject demand by white right-wingers for a separate homeland in South Africa. Thirteen years after that, in 2007 CE, the British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, a body in which one hundred percent of its members are elected by people.
In 1994 CE the U.S. Navy issues first permanent order assigning women to combat ships; twenty-nine years later, in 2023 CE, the U.N. secretary general António Guterres says in a speech for International Woman's Day, that gender equality now "300 years away” and "vanishing before our eyes," citing maternal mortality and early marriage as causal factors.
In 2022 CE the global death toll from COVID-19 passes 6 million according to Johns Hopkins University, with fifty-seven percent of the world's population fully vaccinated.
In 2023 CE the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warns that China and the United States are heading toward inevitable "confrontation and conflict", unless America changes course.
In 2024 CE Sweden officially joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, becoming the alliance's 32nd member, while abandoning its two-hundred-year policy of neutrality.
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