The Story of Writing

The birthday club includes George Weller, Marcia Brown, and Cameron Crowe. Today's reading is the poem "Miracles," written by Jean Blewett.

Virginia adopts the Declaration of Rights written by George Mason, Anne Frank is given a blank diary, and the U.S. Supreme Court rules interracial couples can marry. Happy birthday to Rona Jaffe - wi…

A day of civil rights in 1963: Thích Quảng Đức set himself on fire in Saigon to protest a ban on Buddhist religious practice, Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway of the state univers…

Bridget Bishop becomes the first person to be executed in the Salem Witch Trials and the group Alcoholics Anonymous is founded. Happy birthdays to Howlin' Wolf and Saul Bellow - with a reading from B…

China and France sign the Treaty of Tientsin, and the birthday club includes Cole Porter, Robert McNamara, and Jackie Wilson - with a reading from Porter's "Let's Fall In Love."

James Madison proposes 12 Constitutional amendments, Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquity Act into law, and George Orwell's novel "1984" is published - with a reading from "1984."

Spain and Portugal carve up the wholly inaccurate map of the new world, England drafts the Petition of Right, and an American colonist proposes becoming an independent nation. Happy birthdays to Gwen…

The first, patented drive-in theater opens, and it's an important day for the WWII battle of Midway and the invasion of D-Day. The birthday club includes Alexander Pushkin, Angelo Moriondo, and Thoma…

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published, Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated, and "Tank Man" stops a tank column in Beijing. And happy birthday to Federico Garcia Lorca - with a reading of "Sonnet of the Swee…

The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment, the U.S. denies refuge to Jewish Germans fleeing the Nazis, the British evacuate their own troops from Dunkirk, and California legalizes labor unions fo…

Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain and the Dutch Parliament creates the West India Company. The birthday club includes Memphis Minnie, Allen Ginsberg, and Curtis Mayfield - with a reading from…

The Pope bans enslaving native Americans, the second (and even more infuriating) version of the Quartering Act is passed, and indigenous people in the U.S. are granted citizenship. The birthday club …

Scotch Whisky first appears in print, Charles Baudelaire's "Les fleur du mal" is published, and Margaret Chase Smith delivers her speech "The Declaration of Conscience." The birthday club includes Ch…

The birthday club includes Walt Whitman, Fred Allen, Al Young, and Svetlana Alexievich - with a reading from Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric."

The birthday club includes Countee Cullen, Mel Blanc, James Chaney, and Idina Menzel - with a reading of Cullen's "Saturday's Child."

Sojourner Truth gives her "Ain't I A Woman?" speech, Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" premiers in Paris, and Hillary and Norgay reach the peak of Everest. And happy birthday to Bob Hope - with a re…

The Sierra Club is founded, and the opinion piece that launched Amnesty International is published. The birthday club includes Ian Fleming, T-Bone Walker, and Maeve Binchy - with a reading from John …

The birthday club includes Julia Ward Howe, Dashiell Hammett, and Rachel Carson - with a reading from Carson's "Silent Spring."

The House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities holds its first session, and the birthday club includes Miles Davis, Levon Helm, Stevie Nicks, Lauryn Hill, and Raina Telgemeier. Toda…

The 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention, JFK's call to put a man on the moon, and "Star Wars" hits movie screens. The birthday club includes Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rosario Castellanos - with a readi…