On February 12, 1909, the 100th anniversary of Abraham
Lincoln’s birth, a group that included African American
leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett
announced the formation of a new organization.
Called the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, it would have a profound effect on the
struggle for civil rights and the course of 20th-century
American history.
On January 27, 1888, the National Geographic Society was
incorporated in Washington, D.C., for “the increase and
diffusion of geographical knowledge.
The 33 men who originally met and formed the National
Geographic Society were a diverse group of geographers,
explorers, teachers, lawyers, military officers and financiers.
All shared an interest in scientific and geographical knowledge,
as well as an opinion that in a time of discovery, invention,
change and mass communication, Americans were becoming
more curious about the world around them.
In Akron, Ohio, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, two recovering alcoholics, founded Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a 12-step rehabilitation program that would eventually help countless
people cope with alcoholism.
Based on psychological techniques that have long been used
in suppressing certain personality traits, members of the strictly anonymous organization control their disease through guided
group discussion and confession.
Dr. Robert Smith (1879 – 1950) and Bill Wilson (1895 – 1971)
On August 21, 1980, animal rights advocates Ingrid Newkirk
(above) and Alex Pacheco (below) found People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. Rising from humble beginnings, PETA
will soon become the world’s foremost and most controversial
animal rights organization.
