The Story of Writing

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address.

Standard Time is introduced in the U.S., violence and sexual assault made a demonstration for women's suffrage into "Black Friday" in London, South Africa ends Apartheid, and happy birthday to Howard…

Richard Nixon says, "I am not a crook," and happy birthdays to Peter Cook and Rebecca Walker - with a reading from "Pollyanna," by Eleanor Porter.

Fyodor Dostoevsky is sentenced to death, and the birthday club includes Chinua Achebe and Andrea Barrett - with a reading from Elinore Pruitt Stewart's "Letters of a Woman Homesteader."

Sherman's "March to the Sea" and why we call it that - with a reading from Sam Byers' "Sherman's March to the Sea."

"Moby Dick" is published in the US, Nellie Bly begins her attempt to travel around the world in 80 days, and Ruby Bridges desegregates her elementary school in Louisiana. Happy birthday to Frederick …

Walt Disney releases "Fantasia," the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Alabama's racist segregation of buses violated the Constitution, and Seymour Hersh publishes the story of the My Lai Massacre in Vie…

The World Wide Web is proposed and the birthday club includes John McGahern, Sarah Harmer, and Richelle Mead - with a reading from McGahern's "The Dark."

The Mayflower Compact is signed, the Armistice ending World War I is signed, and in the U.S. the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is consecrated. The birthday club includes Fyodor Dostoevsky, Kurt Vonnegu…

The Cult of Reason, Canada and the U.S. receive the top-secret message that at the 11th hour of the next day, WWI would end, direct dialing starts, "Sesame Street" airs its first episode, and happy b…

Kristallnacht, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the birthday club includes Maud Howe Elliott, Mary Travers, Ti-Grace Atkinson, and Allison Wolfe - with a reading from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's "F…

Mary Lyon establishes Mount Holyoke, Black and White workers go on strike together for the first time in the U.S., and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduces the Civil Works Administration. …

The first issue of the London Gazette is published, Lord Dunmore's Offer of Emancipation is extended to slaves in the American colonies, abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy is shot and killed, women are gran…

The Charter of the Forest is sealed in London, and the birthday club includes Derrick Bell, Michael Cunningham, and Colson Whitehead - with a reading from L. M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables."

The Gunpowder Treason is stopped in London, Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for voting, and the U.S. issues its first patent for an automobile. England and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire and…

Sigmund Freud publishes "The Interpretation of Dreams," and happy birthdays to Will Rogers and Charles Frazer - with a reading from Rogers' newspaper column.

English King Henry VIII becomes head of the Anglican Church, feminist playwright Olympe de Gouges meets a sticky end for pointing out that women are equal to men, and the U.S. Congress moves a propos…

Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenities for publishing "Lady Chatterly's Lover," and the U.S. top brass decides the public should get more optimistic reports on the progress of the Vietnam W…

Shakespeare's "Othello" premiers, "The Tempest," too, Edmund Burke publishes his polemic "Reflections on the Revolution in France," and the U.S. Library of Congress opens. Happy birthdays to Stephen …

Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door, the Netherlands Leiden University Library opens, and the birthday club includes Marie Louise Andrews, Tom Paxton, Ali Farka Touré, and Sus…