On January 15, 1972, “American Pie,”, an epic poem in musical
form that has long been etched in popular consciousness, hit
#1 on the Billboard charts.

The story of Don McLean’s magnum opus begins almost 13
years before its release, on a date with significance well-known
to any American who was alive and conscious at the time.

Donald McLean III will be 80 years old in October.

At midday, a 40-foot wave of fiery hot molasses flooded the
streets of Boston on January 15, 1919, killing 21 people and 
injuring scores of others. 

A 58-foot high tank filled with 2.5 million gallons of crude
molasses burst under pressure due unseasonably hot
weather at the U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company plant in
the north end of the city.

The flood crushed buildings, moved a firehouse, and
knocked an elevated train off its tracks.

On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta,
Georgia, the son of a Baptist minister. King received a doctorate
degree in theology and in 1955 helped organize the first major
protest of the African American civil rights movement: the
successful Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated civil disobedience
and nonviolent resistance to segregation in the South. The
peaceful protests he led throughout the American South were
often met with violence, but King and his followers persisted,
and the movement gained momentum.

Martin Luther King Jr.
(born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

On January 14, 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the
Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence.

In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty
of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was also the name of
the agreement that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763,
Britain officially agreed to recognize the independence of its
13 former colonies as the new United States of America.

Article 10 of the Treaty of Paris. At the bottom are 
the signatures of the American representatives
and their respective seals.