Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Ridley's Believe It Or Not-This Day In History-April 9, 2014 POW Recgonition Day


Ridley's Believe It Or Not--April 9, 2014Found these unknown holidays worthy of mention or celebrating in a culinary fashion to go with the factoids and quote to enjoy. Kudos to the distaff side of UConn in trouncing Notre Dame tonight for the women’s championship. UConn is the only school to win both men’s and women’s titles in the same year, not once but now twice; no wonder its students were in the streets partying. Will the NCAA raise money in the NLRB Northwestern football unionization case by allowing the two Huskies to play each other for the true one and only National Championship? Interesting thought!
              1. Jenkins Ear Day—a little known event that occurred on April 9, 1731 and today commemorating a plundering of a British ship Rebecca by a Spanish patrol boat and the cutting of the ear of Robert Jenkins, the sailing master of the ship, leading to war (Jenkins’ Ear War) between Spain and Great Britain.
              2. National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day—honoring the sacrifice and suffering of those members of the armed forces who have been captured and served as prisoners of war, Sen. John McCain, being one of the more notable ones.  
              3. Winston Churchill Day—observing this day in 1963 that Winston Churchill became the first “honorary citizen of the United States” to be joined later over time by six others, five posthumously. Cannot imagine England surviving WWII without him.
              4. National Chinese Almond Cookie Day--another caloric holiday to sink your teeth into, honoring the perfect end to a Chinese meal along with its sidekick, a fortune cookie.
              On this day in:
                a. 1947 the first “Freedom Riders” bus trip occurred in the South protesting the lack of enforcement of the 1946 Supreme Court ruling in Morgan v. Virginia which outlawed segregation in interstate travel.
                b. 1959 NASA introduced to the public its first astronauts, dubbed the “Mercury Seven.”
                c. 1969 “the Chicago Eight” entered a plea of “not guilty” to inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
What is amazing about segregation is how long after Morgan it took to get the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964: “Traveling in the segregated South for black people was humiliating. The very fact that there were separate facilities was to say to black people and white people that blacks were so subhuman and so inferior that we could not even use public facilities that white people used.” Diane Nash, Freedom Rides Organizer "Every person operating a bus line in the city shall provide equal but separate accommodations for white people and negroes on his buses, by requiring the employees in charge thereof to assign passengers seats on the vehicles under their charge in such manner as to separate the white people from the negroes where there are both white and negroes on the same car; provided, however, that negro nurses having in charge white children or sick or infirm white persons, may be assigned seats among white people.” Montgomery, Alabama City Code 1952
  Please enjoy the 140 character poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and join almost 140 growing followers and please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs--click on links below. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for poems on the Mustangs going to the Dance with a losing record; to honor Cindy Abbott, a half blind 54 year old mother suffering from a rare disease who competed in last year's Iditarod until forced out with a broken pelvis after 600 miles; on Bode Miller and the human spirit; for Cupid on Valentine's Day; to honor Cory Remsburg to join a great collection of my poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy. Go to Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times for poems on the Congressman McAllister on camera kissing passionately his female staffer; the death of Pastor Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church; Obama's "sanctions" compared to Rolling Thunder 49 years ago:  Mustangs advance in the Dance to await the Shockers; Russian Roulette with Putin; EPA's war against a Wyoming family; on Jolly's upset win over Sink in the House's 13th District of Florida; China's red line on war in Korea; the banning the wearing of the American flag on Cinco de Mayo to join numerous other comments on news events always in rhyme of course.
©April 9, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
 
 
 
 
 

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