The Days Leading To The Fourth

I thought of listing down some of the observances and events that take place early in July leading to the Independence Day celebration. I found them to range from the spiritual, the relevant and the frivolous (see entry for July 3):

FRIDAY -- July 1

THOMAS A. DORSEY, Birth Anniversary (1899)
This father of gospel music, was born at Villa Rica, GA. Originally a blues composer, Dorsey eventually combined blues and sacred music to develop gospel music. It was Dorsey's composition "Take My Hand, Precious Lord” that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had asked to have performed moments before his assassination. Dorsey, who composed more than 1,000 gospel songs and hundreds of blues songs in his lifetime, died January 23, 1993, at Chicago, IL.

MEDICARE: Anniversary (1968)
Medicare, the US health insurance program for senior citizens, went into effect. The legislation authorizing the program had been signed by President Lyndon Johnson July 30, 1965. Former President Harry Truman received the first Medicare card.


SATURDAY -- July 2

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964: Anniversary
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1964 into law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race in public accommodations, in publicly owned or operated facilities, in employment and union membership and in the registration of voters.

THOMAS CRANMER, Birth Anniversary (1489)
English clergyman, reformer and martyr, born at Aslacton, Nottinghamshire, England. Archbishop of Canterbury and the principal author of THE ENGLISH BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. Cranmer ranks with Shakespeare and the translators of the KJV for his genius with the English language and may have influenced either, or both. Leader of the English Reformation where he adamantly maintained common worship and prayer should be in one's own vernacular, his work began within the reign of King Henry VIII. Cranmer was secretly married to Margaret Osiander, in opposition to the canons of the Roman Catholic Church requiring then, as now, celibacy of its priests. Condemned for heresy under Mary Tudor, he died at the stake, March 21, 1556.

CONSTITUTION OF THE US TAKES EFFECT: Anniversary (1788)
Cyrus Griffin of Virginia, the president of the Congress, announced that the Constitution had been ratified by the required nine states (the ninth being New Hampshire June 21, 1788), and a committee was appointed to make preparations for the change of government.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE RESOLUTION: Anniversary (1776)
Anniversary of adoption by the Continental Congress, Philadelphia, PA, of a resolution introduced June 7, 1776 by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: "Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation." This resolution prepared the way for adoption, July 14, 1776, of the Declaration of Independence.

THURGOOD MARSHALL: Birth Anniversary (1908)
The first African American on the US Supreme Court, was born at Baltimore, MD. For more than 20 years, he served as director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. His greatest legal victory was on May 17, 1954, when the Supreme Court decision on BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION declared an end to the "separate but equal" system of racial segregation in public schools. Nominated by President Lyndon Johnson, he began his 24-year career on the high court October 2, 1991, and he died January 24, 1993 at Washington, DC.


SUNDAY -- July 3

COMPLIMENT-YOUR-MIRROR DAY
Participation consists of complimenting your mirror on having such a wonderful owner and keeping track of whether other mirrors you meet during the day smile at you.


MONDAY -- July 4 - CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE DAY

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL PUBLISHED, Anniversary (1895)
The poem 'America the Beautiful' by Katherine Lee Bates, a Wellesley College professor, was first published in the CONGREGATIONALIST, a church publication.


FREEDOM WEEK (4-10)
To disseminate throughout the world information about freedom and liberty.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE APPROVAL AND SIGNING
Anniversary (1776)
The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress: "Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President, Attest, Charles Thomson, Secretary." The official signing occurred on August 2, 1776. The manuscript journals of the Congress for that date state: "The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed by the members."