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This Day in History

May 17, 2004
First Gay Marriage in U.S.

Last week President Barack Obama came out in favor of gay marriage so it is important to note that only eight years ago this week the first same-sex marriage in the United States took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

May 18, 1896
Ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson

In 1896 the Supreme Court struck a major blow against integration, ruling that the Louisiana law that provided “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” on railroad cars was constitutional. The ruling provided that long as equal accommodations were provided, segregation was not discrimination. The case was eventually used to justify segregating all public facilities, including railroad cars, restaurants, hospitals, and schools. Not until 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was Plessy v. Ferguson struck down.

 

Election Day: An American Holiday, An American History

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How Dalmatians Became Known As Firehouse Dogs

I am preparing my list for this year’s Dog Days of Summer, and in going through last year’s posts, I thought this one bears repeating… We all associate Dalmatians with firehouses. (And if you’d like to receive the dog stories by email, check off “American Dogs” in the box on the right. The series starts in July.) Here’s why:

The Dalmatian is described as a strong, active dog capable of great endurance and considerable speed.  When we look back at their history it is clear that they have been well-suited for many jobs for which they were used, including as a firehouse dog.

These handsome, short-haired dogs have always been working dogs.  They have served as sentinels along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, protecting the borders of Dalmatia and Croatia; they have been used as shepherds and hunting dogs, and their strength has permitted them to be used pulling wagons or carts.

Their use with horses goes back to the early days of coach travel in Europe.  It is said that the aristocrats who rode in coaches during the 18th century had seen the regal black-and-white dogs and thought they were a good addition to their retinue.

As a breed, the Dalmatian soon demonstrated an affinity for being with horses.  They were happy running alongside them, or bedding down in the horse stalls at night–horse and dog seemed well-suited to each other.

Coach drivers came to appreciate the dogs for their protective qualities.  If a coach driver wanted a good night’s sleep without worrying about theft of his horses, he could leave a Dalmatian on guard in the stable.

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American Women like Michelle Obama and Marissa Mayer: The Future

I want to close Women’s History Month with thoughts of the future. An email from a reader last week said it perfectly: “Based on what these women have accomplished, I see great potential for women of today and the future.”

I agree. Tuesday night two of my daughters and I attended a program at New York’s 92nd Street Y featuring Marissa Mayer, the young woman who is Employee #20 at Google and is now vice president of location and local services. Suddenly I felt very hopeful. After years of worrying that America wasn’t really making as much progress as we had hoped when the women’s movement built speed in the 1970s and ‘80s, I began to re-think my concern.

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Ruth Harriet Louise (1903-1940), First Female Staff Photographer in Hollywood

  • Helped set tone for glamour photography of the 1920s

Born Ruth Goldstein in New York City, Ruth Harriet Louise was the daughter of a rabbi. The family lived in a few different locations in Manhattan before settling in New Jersey.

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Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink (1927-2002), Pressed for Passage of Title IX

  • First woman of color in U.S. Congress
  • First Asian-American in Congress
  • First woman to represent Hawaii

Patsy Takemoto Mink served two separate stints in the US Congress (1965-1976) and (1990-2002), representing Hawaii’s 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts. As the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, she worked tirelessly for civil rights, women’s rights, economic justice, civil liberties, peace, and the integrity of the democratic process.

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Althea Gibson (1927-2003), “Unlikely Champion” of Tennis

  • First player to break color barrier in tennis
  • Won 56 tennis tournaments, including five Grand Slam singles titles
  • First African-American Wimbledon champion and first African-American to enter and win the championship at Forest Hills

Althea Gibson was born in Silver, South Carolina in 1927 but she grew up in Harlem where her family moved when she was very young.

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Maria Tallchief (1925- ), Prima Ballerina

  • First American dancer to become a prima ballerina;
  • Overcame skepticism about whether a Native American could achieve greatness in classical ballet

Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief was born on an Indian reservation in Fairfax, Oklahoma in 1925. Her mother was of Irish and Scottish descent and her father was a member of the Osage tribe.

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Bill Pickett (ca 1870-1932), African-American Cowboy

  • Successful showman and cowboy
  • Invented the art of “bulldogging
  • “Almost totally missing from the traditional history of the American West is the role of the Black cowboy as well as other Black pioneers who traveled through and settled during the nineteenth century in the vast territory west of the Mississippi,” writes Bennie J. McRae, Jr. in a1996 book, Lest We Forget. McRae notes that though history books and Hollywood manage to expunge blacks from the record, of the estimated 35,000 cowboys that worked the ranches and rode the trails between five and nine thousand (about one-third) were said to have been African-American.

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    Claude Barnett (1889-1967), Journalist and Publisher

    • Founded the Associated Negro Press, the first international news agency for black newspapers
    • Advocated against segregation in the military and the segregation of the blood supply

    Claude Barnett was born in Sanford, Florida. His parents were domestic workers, and their marriage didn’t last. While still a baby, Barnett moved with his mother to Oak Park, Illinois so they could live near his maternal grandmother.

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    Dorie Miller (1919-1943), Hero of World War II

    Serving in a noncombat role in the Navy, Dorie Miller responded heroically when the battleship West Virginia was attacked at Pearl Harbor

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