JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT - WWII
In early 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. That directive allowed government officials to exclude ethnic Japanese, living in certain states, from their towns, their homes, their businesses. The Secretary of War and his advisors had to determine where excluded people would live. Camps (variously referred to as internment, detention and concentration) were hastily built as Japanese-American citizens, and Japanese resident-aliens, were told to start packing their bags and closing their businesses. On the first of September, 1942, a California federal judge held that the relocation process was legal.
JAPANESE SURRENDER - VJ DAY
On the 2nd of September, 1945, Japanese representatives formally surrendered to the Allies aboard the USS Missouri, in Tokyo Bay. See official pictures and examine the actual documents which ended the Second World War.
TERRA COTTA SOLDIERS
In the 3rd century B.C., a man named Ying Zheng was consolidating his power in China. Before Ying Zheng became ruler of the state of "Qin" (also called "Ch'in"), China's seven "states" had never been unified. Significant changes were in store for the country, and for its people.
Ying Zheng ultimately took a new name and became the First Emperor of China. To protect their ruler after his death, about 700,000 workers, over 36 years, constructed a mausoleum and created thousands of life-size terra cotta soldiers. Those soldiers - created to stand guard over their Emperor - are often called the 8th Wonder of the World.
China, and visitors from all over the world, celebrate this marvel during a September festival. This story, with text and video, provides background for the First Emperor, the Great Wall and the terra cotta soldiers.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESCAPES SLAVERY
Frederick Douglass, the American abolitionist, was born a slave. On the 3rd of September, 1838, he disguised himself as a sailor and escaped to freedom. In My Bondage and My Freedom, featured in this story, he tells us how he made (and executed) his plan of escape. He experienced more than a few harried moments!
BEATRIX POTTER and the STORY OF PETER RABBIT
Beatrix Potter, trying to cheer-up the son of her former governess, sent Noel Moore an illustrated letter telling the story of a mischievous bunny called Peter. Take a look at the original letter (from the 4th of September, 1893) and learn the story behind the creation of Miss Potter's"little books."
THE STORY OF JESSE JAMES
Still the subject of stories and movies, Jesse James grew up in Missouri - a state impacted by the famous Missouri Compromise. Born on the 5th of September, 1847, Jesse and his brother became outlaws after the American Civil War. This story provides a brief biography of his life and times.
MURDER AT THE FAIR - DEATH OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY
On the 6th of September, 1901, William McKinley - then president of the United States - was visiting the Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York. An assassin, armed with a .32 caliber short-barreled Johnson revolver, fired two shots directly at McKinley. One of the bullets entered the president's stomach.
Nearby, a new invention - the X-ray machine - was on display. If attending doctors had known how to use it, they could have found the bullet and McKinley would likely have survived. But no one did and, after suffering for a week, the president died. Twelve hours later, Theodore Roosevelt was sworn-in as the country's chief executive.
The day on which McKinley was shot - September 6th - has been called one of "10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America." The reason? It was the new president, with his new vision, who guided the country into the Twentieth Century.
MEET THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Who was Theodore Roosevelt, a man who became America's youngest president (at age 42)? This brief biography provides an overview of the man and his passions.
THE GREAT HURRICANE OF 1900
It was the peak of hurricane season - September 8, 1900. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico were hot - just the kind of hot a tropical storm needs to grow into a hurricane. A storm that began in late August near the Cape Verde Islands, off Africa's west coast, had reached Cuba by September 5th. In the days of primitive weather instruments, meteorologists on the island had developed an amazing ability to forecast major storms. They predicted this tropical storm would intensify when it left Cuba. And they believed it would do something else: continue on its westward path toward Texas.
Those Cuban forecasters were right, but forecasters in America disagreed. People in the direct path of the "Great Storm of 1900" received no warnings that their lives and property were in grave danger. When the storm reached Galveston, an island off the Texas shore, it temporarily buried the town and its inhabitants with sea water. At least 8,000 people died within a few hours. In this story... learn, among other things, how hurricanes form.
SEPTEMBER 11
On the 11th of September, 2001, America was attacked when hijackers took control of four jetliners. Three planes were intentionally flown into buildings while a fourth (United Airlines Flight 93) crashed in a Pennsylvania field. It is believed a total of 3,030 victims died that day. Many bodies were never found or could not be identified.
LESSON PLAN - SEPTEMBER 11
To assist educators wishing to commemorate the 9th anniversary of 9-11 with their class, we have prepared a new lesson plan to accompany our story.
As thousands of shocked people made their way down the twin-tower stairways - hoping to leave the buildings alive - they passed New York City firefighters on their way up. With their backs loaded-down with gear, hundreds of selfless men endangered themselves to save others.
Marines joined the recovery effort. Walking over debris they deemed "sacred ground" - because thousands of bodies were likely there - they ignored orders to leave "ground zero." Because they stayed, and kept looking for people still alive, two trapped Port Authority policemen were pulled from the rubble.
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
Old Doc Beanes was missing. Well, not exactly missing. Everyone in Georgetown knew where the much-loved doctor was. It's just that his neighbors and patients couldn't get to him. He had been captured by the British during the War of 1812. And...because he was captured...someone needed to negotiate his release. The job fell to a lawyer named Francis Scott Key. Learn how Key was in the right place (near Fort McHenry), at the right time (September 14, 1814), when it came to writing "The Star-Spangled Banner."
PILGRIMS CROSS THE SEA
On the 16th of September, 1620, a ship named Mayflower left the British port of Southampton. According to its ship's log, the captain "Laid course W.S.W. for northern coasts of Virginia." Aboard the ship were people seeking a new life in America. Their late-season departure insured they would encounter bad weather en route. What had caused their delay? Who were the people aboard the ship? And ... why were they leaving in the first place?
AMERICA'S CONSTITUTION DAY
After the American colonies won their independence from Great Britain, the country's founding fathers had to determine a rational form of government. When Articles of Confederation proved too weak, delegates gathered in Philadelphia to discuss a new constitution. After much debate, a document was signed - on the 17th of September, 1787 - without a Bill of Rights. (Those amendments were added two years later.) In this story, step back in time to learn how things happened.
OETZI THE ICE MAN
On the 19th of September, 1991, Helmut and Erica Simon were hiking on a glacier near the Italian-Austrian border when they made a stunning discovery. They found a well-preserved, prehistoric mummy - known today as "Oetzi the Iceman" - who lived more than 5,000 years ago. In this story, you can see his remains and learn what likely happened to him. With today's forensic tools, investigators have even determined what Oetzi was eating just before he died.
DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD
After President James Garfield was shot, on the 2nd of July, 1881, doctors could not find the bullet. If modern equipment had been available then, perhaps the president could have lived. But unsterile conditions, and doctors with unwashed hands, made Garfield's condition worse. He died on the 19th of September, after suffering 2½ months.
ATTILA THE HUN
Known by many who feared him as "the Scourge of God," Attila the Hun
met his match in 451 when - for the first time - he was stopped in battle. (The
traditional date for the Battle of Châlons-sur-Marne is June 20, 451 although some
sources report it might have been fought on September 20th of that year.) Who
was this man who amassed a huge empire (which fell apart soon after his death)?
WHO WAS BENEDICT ARNOLD?
In American-English, the word "Benedict Arnold" means "traitor." Why? Who was this person whose name has become synonymous with "turn-coat?"
At the beginning of September, 1780, Benedict Arnold was a Major General in the Continental Army. His assignment? The command of West Point, a strategically important American fort on the Hudson River. By the end of the month, he was a traitor who had tried to sell out his country, his fort and his men. His price? Twenty-thousand pounds sterling (worth about $1 million today).
RULES of BASEBALL
As Major League Baseball, in America, gets closer to the "World Series," one might ask this question: When did baseball first become an organized sport? When were its rules first introduced? Although history isn't totally clear about it, we do know this: On the 23rd of September, 1845, the Knickerbockers, an amateur New York City baseball club, first adopted a set of rules for the "Recently Invented Game of Base Ball."
DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHICS
For centuries, no one understood the meaning of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Then ... Napoleon's soldiers uncovered the Rosetta Stone (in 1799). Twenty-three years later, a young French scholar announced that he had deciphered the symbols. Jean-Francois Champollion's discovery ushered in the science of Egyptology.
GUTENBERG - THE WORLD'S FIRST PRINTED BOOK
Some historians believe that Gutenberg released the first part of the world's first published book -
The Bible - on September 30, 1452. While no one can be sure of the exact release date, one thing is clear: The publication of Gutenberg's
Bible changed the world. Parenthetically ... the reason why it wasn't burned (due to censorship) is because Gutenberg published the work in Latin (not in the vernacular).
