On this day in 1969, the Children's Television Workshop premiered Sesame Street. Little Known Fact: the program's format was loosely inspired by a popular variety show at the time, Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. Like Laugh In, Sesame Street consists of short films, skits, songs and scenes, all built around the central theme of a fictional street inhabited by both a multi-cultural human cast and puppet characters. Today, Sesame Street, in both its English and international versions, is seen in about 120 countries, and has won more than 150 Emmys and numerous Grammys in its 50 year history. (photo is former First Lady Barbara Bush, Big Bird and other characters on set) On this day in 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest iron ore carrier on the Great Lakes, sinks suddenly in Lake Superior, taking its 29 man crew with it. The ship sinks without even getting off an SOS. It is the worst maritime accident ever on Superior. Official reports speculate the ship may have been overloaded, and therefore susceptible to a sudden large wave.
On this day in 1918, the armistice ending World War I is signed. The Great War has cost Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary and Russia more than a million dead soldiers each, 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded of all combined nations, along with an estimated 5 million civilians dead from disease, starvation or exposure. On this day in 1921, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery. The unknown soldier is buried with highest military honors, and his coffin sits on 2 inches of soil brought from France, so that he will always rest on the earth on which he died. An unknown from each of America's 20th century military conflicts will be added to the tomb over the years, but in 1998, DNA evidence would identify the unknown selected from the Vietnam War, and Lt. Michael Blassie, USAF, would be exhumed and returned to his hometown of St. Louis for burial with full honors. On this day in 1978, a Hollywood stuntman launches a 1969 Dodge Charger, painted neon orange with a Confederate flag on the roof, 82 feet off a makeshift dirt ramp and over a police car. It is the first General Lee, the vehicular star of CBS' upcoming series, The Dukes of Hazzard, and like most of the about-300 '69 Chargers that will serve as "The General", it is totalled by the stunt. The stunt is incorporated into the program's opening credits, and so is also the only one of the 300 to be seen on every episode. An Indianpolis DJ found and restored the original General in 2006.
On this day in 1954, the US government closes the immigration center on Ellis Island. Since opening its doors in 1892, Ellis Island has been the gateway to America for more than 12 million legal immigrants. On this day in 1864,General William Tecumseh Sherman's army prepares to leave Atlanta to begin its devastating March to the Sea. Sherman orders that Atlanta's business district be burned. The most severe estimates indicate 40 percent of the city will be destroyed by the time the Yankees pull out 3 days later. Sherman will employ his "scorched earth" policy throughout the ensuing march from Atlanta to Savannah. On this day in 1892, William "Pudge" Heffenlinger, a former 3-time All American for Yale, scores the only touchdown in the Allegheny Athletic Association's 4-0 win over Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Some time in the 1960's, the NFL, tipped off by an unknown writer's manuscript on the origins of football, researches the AAA team and finds it paid Heffenlinger $500 to play in the game, and officially recognizes him as the first professional football player.
On this day in 1956, SCOTUS rules bus segregation to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. The ruling came in the case of Browder vs. Gayle. The plaintiff, Montgomery, AL housewife Aurelia Browder, was one of four black women (including a 15-year old girl) bringing suit against the city's bus company and mayor W.A. Gayle. They brought their case to the federal courts fearing that it would get bogged down in state court, as was the then-ongoing case of Rosa Parks. On this day in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington DC. The memorial, a v-shaped black wall inscribed with the names of 57,939 American war dead, was designed by Maya Lin, a 21-year old architectural student at Yale. At first criticized because it lacked heroic statues or inspiring quotations, public opinion of the memorial's impact began to shift as family members and survivors began to flock to the wall to locate the names of their loved ones on the wall, often leaving behind flowers or written messages to the dead. On this day in 1979...it was not a record-breaking day, but it was a glass-breaking day in the NBA. Its been done many times since, but Darryl Dawkins did it first. And a couple of weeks later, he did it again. Here's the only video of today's anniversary slam I could find.
