What do an airplane ejection seat, Delta Sigma Theta and Henry Ford have in common? All three share an important anniversary on January 13th.
How many of these January 13 facts did you know before reading this blog post?
1842 – Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 (4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers), when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan to share his story.
1910 – The first public radio broadcast occurs. It is a live performance of the opera Cavalleria rusticana performed by the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, New York.
1913 – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, was founded by 22 women on the campus of Howard University. While the sorority's emphasis has been on programs to benefit the African-American community, membership is open to any woman who meets the requirements, regardless of religion, race, or nationality.
The first public act of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was to participate in the Women's Suffrage March in Washington D.C. on March 3, 1913. It was the only African-American women's organization to participate. Event orgnizers did not want to include any African-Americans for fear of racism causing the public to reject the women's vote movement. Today, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is the largest African-American Greek-lettered organization.
1942 – American automaker Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30 percent lighter than a regular car.
1942 – First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot occurs in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
1960 – The Gulag system of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union is officially abolished.
1966 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African-American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
1978 – United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled according to whether the donors were "paid" or "volunteer". In an interesting side note, early employees of the FDA formerly “tested” food safety by ingesting the substances themselves to check for harmful effects.
1990 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African-American governor when he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.
Keeping buyers, sellers, investors and colleagues informed is an important part of my real estate practice selling Silicon Valley homes to families in San Jose, Cupertino and Saratoga in Santa Clara County, Calif.
Images courtesy of Michelle Carr-Crowe’s private collection, the public domain, the U.S. government or www.freedigitalphotos.net.
Thanks for reading “Nine Unique, Unusual True Facts From History on January 13”.
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