Ash Wednesday
is a day of fasting on the first day of Lent. It derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the heads of participants either by sprinkling ashes or marking the forehead with ashes in the shape of a cross. Read more at http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/ash-wednesday-bible.
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Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss
Born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Theodor Seuss Geisel, creator of The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, was born at Springfield, MA. Known to children and parents as Dr. Seuss, his books have sold more than 200 million copies and have been translated into 20 languages. His career began with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was turned down by 27 publishing houses before being published by Vanguard Press. His books included many messages, from environmental consciousness in The Lorax to the dangers of pacifism in Horton Hatches the Egg and Yertle the Turtle’s thinly veiled references to Hitler as the title character.
He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 “for his contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America’s children and their parents.” He died 24 September 1991, at La Jolla, CA.
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Mar 2, 1965. The perennially popular family film musical, starring Julie Andrews as Maria Von Trapp, premiered on this date at New York City. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, the film won five Oscars, including awards for Best Picture and Best Director (Robert Wise).
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World Day of Prayer – This is an ecumenical initiative of Christian women in over 170 countries who share a day of prayer and programs aiming for understanding of other cultures, needs of women in various countries, and how their sisters worldwide understand Biblical passages. World Day of Prayer takes place on the first Friday of March. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Day_of_Prayer.
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Born on 3 March 1847. Inventor of the telephone, born at Edinburgh, Scotland, Bell acquired his interest in the transmission of sound from his father, Melville Bell, a teacher of the deaf. Bell’s use of visual devices to teach articulation to the deaf contributed to the theory from which he derived the principle of the vibrating membrane used in the telephone. On Mar 10, 1876, Bell spoke the first electrically transmitted sentence to his assistant in the next room: “Mr Watson, come here, I want you.”
Bell’s other accomplishments include a refinement of Edison’s phonograph, the first successful phonograph record and the audiometer. He also continued exploring the nature and causes of deafness. He died near Baddeck, NS, Canada, 2 August 1922.
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Mar 3, 1820. In February 1819 a bill was introduced into the U.S. Congress that would admit Missouri to the Union as a state that prohibited slavery. At the time there were 11 free states and 10 slave states. Southern congressmen feared this would upset the balance of power between North and South. As a compromise, on this date Missouri was admitted as a slave state but slavery was forever prohibited in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1854 this act was repealed when Kansas and Nebraska were allowed to decide on slave or free status by popular vote.
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3 March 1931. The bill designating “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the USA’s national anthem was adopted by the US Senate and went to President Herbert Hoover for signature. The president signed it the same day.
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On National Grammar Day, we honor our language and its rules, which help us communicate clearly with each other. In turn, clear communication helps us understand each other— a critical component of peaceful relations. The day is sponsored by The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, a rapidly growing worldwide organization with more than 20,000 members. Annually, Mar 4th— both a date and an imperative.
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William Penn
King Charles II deeded Pennsylvania to William Penn on March 4, 1681 to satisfy a debt of 16,000 pounds.
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5 March 1770. A skirmish between British troops and a crowd at Boston, MA, became widely publicized and contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in the colonies before the American Revolution. Five men were killed and six more were injured by British troops commanded by Captain Thomas Preston.
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5 March 1770. Honors Crispus Attucks, possibly a runaway slave, who was the first to die in the Boston Massacre. Read more at PBS.org.
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St. Piran’s Day celebrates the birthday of St. Piran, the patron saint of Cornish tinners. Cornish worldwide celebrate this day.
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Dred Scott. Oil on canvas by Louis Schultze, 1888. Acc. # 1897.9.1. Missouri Historical Society Museum Collections.
6 March 1857. This was the most famous US Supreme Court decision during the prewar slavery controversy. Dred Scott, a slave, had successfully petitioned for his freedom based on his previous residence in a free state and territory. On this date the Supreme Court overturned Missouri’s Supreme Court decision and declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that slaves were property, not citizens, and that Congress had no power to restrict slavery in the territories.
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6 March 1836. Anniversary of the fall of the Texan fort, the Alamo. The siege, led by Mexican general Santa Anna, began Feb 23 and reached its climax Mar 6, when the last of the defenders was slain. Texans, under General Sam Houston, rallied with the war cry “Remember the Alamo” and, at the Battle of San Jacinto, Apr 21, defeated and captured Santa Anna, who signed a treaty recognizing Texas’s independence.
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A part of Celebrate Your Name Week, today is Fun Facts About Your Name Day: Celebrate names today by looking up interesting tidbits about names. Get started with fun facts about names on our website. Or maybe you already know the name of Santa’s brother? Surprise, entertain, enlighten and amaze others by sharing what you find. Ask others to share the stories of their names. Discuss the exotic names some celebrities give their children.
6 Mar 1475. Anniversary of the birth, at Caprese, Italy, of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, a prolific Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect and poet who had a profound impact on Western art. Michelangelo’s fresco painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican at Rome, Italy, is often considered the pinnacle of his achievement in painting, as well as the highest achievement of the Renaissance. Also among his works were the sculptures David and The Pieta. Appointed architect of St. Peter’s in 1542, a post he held until his death on 18 February 1564, at Rome.
Mar 7, 1918. With US troops fighting in the trenches in France during WWI, President Woodrow Wilson authorized the creation of a new bronze, beribboned medal to be given to US Army personnel who performed “exceptionally meritorious service.”
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7 March 1849. Anniversary of the birth of American naturalist and author, creator and developer of many new varieties of flowers, fruits, vegetables and trees. Burbank’s birthday is observed in California as Bird and Arbor Day. Born at Lancaster, Massachusetts, he died at Santa Rosa, California, 11 April 1926.
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National Cereal Day celebrates the invention of cereal which in the 19th century was viewed as a remedy for many ailments and an answer to a diet too high in protein. Read more at http://www.nationalcerealday.com/.
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Mar 7, 1945. On this date in 1945, a small advance force of the US First Army captured the Ludendorff railway bridge across the Rhine River at Remagen (between Bonn and Coblenz)—the only bridge across the Rhine that had not been blown up by the German defenders— thus acquiring the first bridgehead onto the east bank and the beginning of the Allied advance into Germany, a turning point in WWII.
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Bloody Sunday. On Sunday, March 7, 1965 the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama took place.
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Sunday, 8 March is International Women’s Day, a day to honor women, especially working women. Said to commemorate an 1857 march and demonstration at New York, NY, by female garment and textile workers. Believed to have been first proclaimed for this date at an international conference of women held at Helsinki, Finland, in 1910, “that henceforth Mar 8 should be declared International Women’s Day.” The 50th anniversary observance, at Peking, China, in 1960, cited Clara Zetkin (1857– 1933) as “initiator of Women’s Day on Mar 8.”
This is perhaps the most widely observed holiday of recent origin and is unusual among holidays originating in the US in having been widely adopted and observed in other nations, including socialist countries. In Russia it is a national holiday, and flowers or gifts are presented to women workers.
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Do typos (typographical errors) make you cringe? Strive for 100 percent accuracy in all documents and messages on National Proofreading Day. Grab a red pen or red pencil on 8 March to correct misspelled words; misused words; typos; grammatical errors; and missing, overused and misused punctuation marks.
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March 9, 1822: Charles M. Graham of New York City received the first US patent for artificial teeth. Read more https://patriciahysell.wordpress.com/tag/charles-m-graham/.
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Mattel debuts Barbie on 9 March 1959. Since then over 800 million have been sold.
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