Awesome And Sobering: August’s First Week In Remembering

Both inspiring and chilling, the first week in August grips the imagination looking back down memory lane! Read on and judge for yourself:

1-- MONDAY

LAST ENTRY IN THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK: Anniversary (1944).
To escape deportation to concentration camps, the Jewish family of Otto Frank hid for two years in the warehouse of his food products business in Amsterdam. Gentile friends smuggled in food and other supplies during their confinement. Thirteen-year-old Anne Frank, who kept a journal during the time of their hiding, penned her last entry in the diary August 1, 1944:

“I keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would like to be, and what I could be, if ... there weren't any other people living in the world.”

Three days later (August 4, 1944) Grune Polizei raided the 'Secret Annex' where the Frank family was hidden. Anne and her sister were sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where Anne died at age 15, two months before the liberation of Holland. Young Anne's diary, later found in the family's hiding place, has been translated into 30 languages and has become a symbol of the indomitable strength of the human spirit.

EMANCIPATION OF 500: Anniversary (1791).
Virginia planter Robert Carter, III, confounded his family and friends by filing a deed of emancipation for his 500 slaves. One of the wealthiest men in the state, Carter owned 60,000 acres over 18 plantations. The deed included the following words: "I have for some time past been convinced that to retain them in Slavery is contrary to the true principles of Religion and Justice and therefore it is my duty to manumit them." The document established a schedule by which 15 slaves would be freed each Jan 1, over a 21-year period, plus slave children would be freed at age 18 for females and 21 for males. It is believed this was the largest act of emancipation in US history and predated the Emancipation Proclamation by 70 years.

WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK (August 1-7).
Commemoration of signing of Innocenti Declaration. includes a World Walk for Breastfeeding. Breastfeeding advocates, healthcare professionals and social service agencies focus attention on the importance and benefits of breastfeeding.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB: 15TH Anniversary (1990).
The creation of what would become the World Wide Web was suggested this month in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics at Switzerland. By October, they had designed a prototype Web browser. They also introduced HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and the URL (Universal Resource Locator). Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser, was designed by Marc Andreessen and released in 1993. By early 1993, there were 50 Web servers worldwide. It has been said this is as revolutionary for the human race as the invention of the steam engine ... a hallmark of the industrial revolution.
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2 -- TUESDAY

JAMES BALDWIN: 80th Birth Anniversary (1924).
Black American author noted for descriptions of black life and relations between the races in the US. Born at New York, NY, his best-known work, GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN, was published in 1953. James Baldwin died at Saint Paul-de-Vence, France on November 30, 1987.
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3 -- WEDNESDAY

ARMY NURSES PAY RAISE: Anniversary (1861).
Although it had been known from the time the Second Continental Congress authorized the Continental Army (June 14, 1775) that " ... the sick suffered much for want of good female nurses ..." (General Washington had asked the Congress to authorize a matron and nurses), progress was slow. The pay of a nurse, originally $2 per month and one ration per day, was increased to $8 per month and one ration per day on April 7, 1777. Congress, 84 years later, authorized the Surgeon General to employ women as nurses for army hospitals at a salary of $12 per month plus one ration per day.

JOHN T. SCOPES: Birth Anniversary (1900).
Central figure in a cause celebre (the "Scopes Trial" or the "Monkey Trial"), John Thomas Scopes was born at Paucah, KY. An obscure 24-year-old schoolteacher at the Dayton TN, high school in 1925, he became the focus of world attention. Scopes never uttered a word at his trial, which was a contest between two of America's best-known lawyers, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow. The trial, July 10-21, 1925, resulted in Scope's conviction. He was fined $100 "for teaching evolution" in Tennessee. The verdict was upset on a technicality and the statute he was accused of breaching was repealed in 1967. Scopes died at Shreveport, LA, October 21, 1970.
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4 -- THURSDAY

CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS FOUND SLAIN: Anniversary (1964).
After disappearing on June 21, three civil rights workers were found murdered and buried in an earthen dam outside Philadelphia, MS. The three young men were workers on the Mississippi Summer Project organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to increase black voter registration. Prior to their disappearance, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were detained by Neshoba County police on charges of speeding. When their car was found, burned, on June 23, President Johnson ordered an FBI search for the men.

NELSON MANDELA: Arrest Anniversary (1962).
Charismatic black South African leader, was born in 1918, the son of the Tembu tribal chief, at Umtata, Transkei territory of South Africa. A lawyer and political activist, Mandela, who in 1952 established the first black law partnership in South Africa, had been in conflict much of his life over policies and practices resulting from apartheid maintained by an exclusively white government. Acquitted of a treason charge after a trial that lasted from 1956 to 1961, he was apprehended again by security police August 4, 1962. The subsequent trial, widely viewed as an indictment of white domination, resulted in Mandela's being sentenced to five years in prison. In 1963 he was taken from the Pretoria prison to face a new trial -- for sabotage, high treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government -- and in June 1964 he was sentenced to life in prison. His most internationally-known champion was Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu who continues to promote understanding, compassion, and equal human rights around the world.
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5 -- FRIDAY

JOHN ELIOT: Birth Anniversary (1604).
American "Apostle to the Indians," translator of the Bible into an Indian tongue (the first Bible to be printed in America), was born at Hertfordshire, England. He died at Roxbury, MA, May 21, 1690.
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6 -- SATURDAY

ELECTROCUTION FIRST USED FOR DEATH PENALTY: Anniversary (1890).
At Auburn Prison, Auburn, NY, William Kemmler of Buffalo, NY, became the first man to be executed by electrocution. He had been convicted of the hatchet murder of his common-law wife, Matilde Ziegler, on March 28, 1889. This first attempt at using electrocution to carry out the death penalty was a botched affair. As reported by George Westinghouse, Jr, "It has been a brutal affair. They could have done better with an axe."

HIROSHIMA DAY---ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA: 60TH Anniversary (1945).
At 8:15 a.m., local time, an American B-29 bomber, the ENOLA GAY, dropped an atomic bomb named "Little Boy" over the center of the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb exploded about 1,800 feet above the ground, killing more than 105,000 civilians and destroying the city. It is estimated that another 100,000 persons were injured and died subsequently as a direct result of the bomb and the radiation it produced. This was the first time in history that such a devastating weapon had been used by any nation.

FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS CHRIST.
The story recorded in the New Testament's first three gospels (Mark 9:2-13, etc.) according to which Jesus took his disciples Peter, James, and John to a mountain where he took on a glorious appearance alongside Moses and Elijah. The Feast of the Transfiguration on August 6 has been observed in the Eastern Orthodox Communion since before 1000 CE, and in the West since 1456, especially by Anglicans(Episcopalians), Lutherans, and Roman Catholics whose following Sunday services focus on the event.

ALEXANDER FLEMING: Birth Anniversary (1881).
Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist, discoverer of PENICILLIN (1928)--first antibiotic successfully to treat bacterial infections in humans--and 1954 Nobel Prize recipient, was born at Lochfield, Scotland. He died at London, England, March 11, 1955.

VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 SIGNED: 40TH Anniversary.
Signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to thwart attempts to discriminate against minorities at the polls. The act suspended literacy and other disqualifying tests, authorized appointment of federal voting examiners and provided for judicial relief on the federal level to bar discriminatory poll taxes. Congress voted to extend the Act in 1975, 1984 and 1991.
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7 -- SUNDAY
RALPH JOHNSON BUNCHE: Birth Anniversary (1904).
American statesman, UN official, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (first black to win the award), born at Detroit, MI. Died December 9, 1971, at New York, NY.

FIRST PICTURE OF EARTH FROM SPACE: Anniversary (1959).
US satellite EXPLORER VI transmitted the first picture of Earth from space. For the first time we had a likeness of our home planet based on more than projections and conjectures.

God bless you all.