ROSS SIMPSON

The Great Chicago Fire was a large destructive fire that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871. It killed up to 300 people,
destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago, Illinois, and left more than
100,000 residents homeless. The fire started at about 9:00 p.m. on October 8,
in or around a small barn belonging to the O’Leary family. The shed next to
the barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire, but city officials
never determined the exact cause of the blaze. There has, however, been
much speculation over the years.

In Poland on this day in 1982, all labor organizations were banned
including Solidarity.  
        
       

On this day in 1970, Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the
Nobel Prize for literature.

The Novels of Alexander Solzhenitsyn:
4-book Set (Cancer Ward, August 1914,
the First Circle, One Day in the Life of
Ivan Denisovitch.

Donald James Larsen (New York Yankees) pitched the first
perfect game in the history of the World Series on this day
in 1956.

Donald James Larsen turned 88 on August 7.

TIM MAGUIRE

Several thousand people gather in the Daley Center Plaza in downtown Chicago on Sept. 14, 2001, for a memorial service to honor those killed
in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Cities across the country held similar
events after President George W. Bush declared Sept. 14 a day of
prayer.

President George W. Bush’s Remarks At Ground Zero September 14, 2001.

After President William McKinley died of gunshot wounds inflicted
by an assassin, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, at age 42,
succeeded him on this day in 1901.

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled
Banner," a poem originally known as "Defense of Fort McHenry,"
after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, MD,
during the War of 1812 (above). The song became the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.

On this day in 1982.

It was announced on this day in 1994, that the season was over for
the National Baseball League on the 34th day of the players strike
and the final days of the regular season were canceled.

Margaret Higgins Sanger (Margaret Louise Higgins)
(September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) 

Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex
educator, eugenicist, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized
the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in
the United States, and established organizations that evolved
into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and
bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives”.

The original Pure Food and Drug Act (also known as the Wiley Act)
was passed by Congress on June 30, 1906 and signed by President
Theodore Roosevelt. It prohibited interstate commerce in misbranded
and adulterated foods, drinks and drugs under penalty of seizure of
the questionable products and/or prosecution of the responsible
parties.

The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth on this day in
1971. The three cosmonauts (below) were found dead inside.

Margaret Mitchell’s book, "Gone with the Wind," was published in
this day in 1936. It was one of the best-selling novels of all time 
and the basis for a blockbuster 1939 movie.

Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949)

From left: Tonya Harding and  Nancy Kerrigan.     

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010)

Twentieth-century African-American singer and actress Lena Horne
sang "Stormy Weather," won a Grammy Award for a 1981 album
entitled Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, and appeared in film
versions of The Wiz, Broadway Rhythm, and Ziegfeld Follies.

After dropping out of high school at the age of sixteen, she performed
in the chorus of Harlem’s famed Cotton Club.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1911, the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. 

Former President George H.W. Bush skydiving to celebrate his
72nd birthday on this day in 1997.

State troopers block the steps of the Alabama state capitol at Montgomery, Ala. from civil rights marchers at the end of their
five-day march from Selma, Alabama on this day in 1965.

Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to the crowd of marchers at the
state capital in Alabama.

Aerial photo shows crowd of thousands assembled in front of the 
Capitol.

Aretha Louise Franklin is 75 today.

Aretha Franklin started singing at her father’s church after her
mother’s death and launched her solo career when she was
eighteen.

CARLATA BRADLEY

1962

Sir Sidney Poitier is 90 years old today.

Sidney Poitier spent time working as a dishwasher while his friends assisted
him in learning how to read the newspaper and speak without a Bahamian
accent.

The American Film Institute called him one of the 25 Greatest Male Stars of
All Time in 1999.

1967