TODAY HISTORY LESSON: APRIL 8
1513 Ponce de León claimed Florida for Spain.
1525 Albert von Brandenburg, the leader of the Teutonic Order, assumes the title “Duke of Prussia” and passed the first laws of the Protestant church, making Prussia a Protestant state.
1730 1st Jewish congregation in US consecrates synagogue, “Shearith Israel, NYC”
1766 1st fire escape patented, wicker basket on a pulley & chain
1832 Some 300 American troops of the 6th Infantry leave Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, to confront the Sauk Indians in what would become known as the Black Hawk War.
1879 Milk is sold in glass bottles for 1st time
1886 William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
1913 Opening of China’s 1st parliament takes place in Peking (now Beijing)
1913 The 17th Amendment was ratified, requiring the direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote rather than by the state legislators.
1935 The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was approved by Congress to help alleviate joblessness during the Great Depression.
1952 President Truman orders the seizure of U.S. steel mills to prevent a strike.
1953 Jomo Kenyatta is sentenced to 7 years hard labor. Kenyatta led the Mau Mau movement against the British colonialists. He is considered to be Kenya’s founding father and became the country’s first President in 1964.
1959 One of the first modern programming languages is created. The Common Business-Oriented Language or COBOL was primarily designed by a woman, Grace Hopper.
1962 Bay of Pigs invaders get thirty years imprisonment in Cuba.
1977 The Clash release their debut album of the same name
1987 Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigned over remarks he had made. While on ABC’s “Nightline” Campanis said that blacks “may not have some of the necessities” to hold managerial jobs in major-league baseball.
1988 Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, 52, was defrocked by the Assemblies of God following the disclosure of his involvement with a prostitute. (Swaggart was ordered to stay off TV for a year, but had returned after only three months.)
1992 After 151 years Britain’s “Punch Magazine” final issue
2005 Over 4 million people pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
