TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: NOVEMBER 11
1499 Pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck is executed.
1620 The Mayflower Compact was signed by Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower. It would provide the basis for all governments of the American colonies.
1647 Massachusetts passes 1st US compulsory school attendance law
1778 Indians, led by William Butler, massacre the inhabitants of Cherry Valley, N.Y
1831 Nat Turner, a slave who led a revolt against slave owners, is hanged in Jerusalem, Virginia.
1887 Labor Activists were hanged in Illinois after being convicted of being connected to a bombing that killed eight police officers.
1889 Washington becomes the 42nd state of the Union.
1918 WWI armistice signed by the Allies and Germany comes into effect and World War I hostilities end at 11am, “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” https://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp
1920 The body of an unknown British soldier was buried in Westminster Abbey. The service was recorded with the first electronic recording process developed by Lionel Guest and H.O. Merriman.
1921 The Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia by U.S. President Harding.
1925 Robert Millikan announces discovery of cosmic rays
1933 The first of the great dust storms of the 1930s hits North Dakota.
1938 Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” on network radio.
1953 The polio virus is identified and photographed for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1970 U.S. Army Special Forces raid the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam but find no prisoners.
1972 The U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Bihn to the South Vietnamese army. The event symbolized the end of direct involvement in the Vietnam War by the U.S. military.
1975 Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam removed from office by Governor General Sir John Kerr – 1st elected PM removed in 200 yrs
1984 U.S. President Ronald Reagan accepted the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a gift to the nation from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
1993 In Washington, DC, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated to honor the more than 11,000 women who had served in the Vietnam War.
1998 Israel’s Cabinet ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians.
1999 House of Lords Act reforming Britain’s House of Lords, given Royal Assent; the act removed the right to hereditary seats (sitting members were permitted to remain).
2013 Students at Sofia University in Bulgaria have locked the doors due to anti-government sentiment and general unrest in the country. The students occupied the main lecture hall for over three weeks and thousands joined in marching against the government.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
