A month of Sundays would, technically, mean a period of 30 to 31 weeks. Used to denote a long period of time or something that will never occur. From times when amusement, commerce and other activities were restricted or banned on the Sabbath, a month of Sundays suggested a long, endlessly dreary period of time.

Birthdays

Heidi Watney 1981

Kevin Garnett 1976

Malcom X 1965

Nicole Brown Simpson 1959

James Gosling 1955

Joey Ramone 1951

Grace Jones 1948

Andre the Giant 1946

Pete Townshend 1945

Peter Mayhew 1944

Nora Ephron 1941

Nancy Kwan 1939

Lorraine Hansberry 1930

Pol Pot 1925

Nathuram Vinayak Godse 1910

John Vernou “Black Jack” Bouvier III * 1891

Ho Chi Minh 1890

Albert Fish 1870

Johns Hopkins 1795

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1744 (Queen Charlotte)

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** Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis father. Interesting note: Jackie died on this date in 1994

[a few, well two] Quotes of Note

Never be afraid to sit a while and think. ~ Lorraine Hansberry

The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the masses. ~ Malcolm X

History Bytes (any sound familiar?)

1962: at Madison Square Gardens, Marilyn Munroe sings Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy during a party in his honour.

1958: North American Air Defense (NORAD) formed by US and Canada (now North American Aerospace Defense)

1928: explosion in coal mine (Mather, Pennsylvania)  kills 175 miners

1921: Congress passes the Emergency Quota Laws to sharply decrease immigrant

1913: Alien Landholding bill passes, making it illegal for Japanese to own land/property in California

1910: passage of earth through tail of Hailey’s comet causes near panic

1884: premiere of Ringling Brothers Circus

1883: William “Buffalo Bill” Cody opens his Wild West Show in Omaha, Nebraska

1864: siege of Vicksburg

1848: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by Mexico, ending the Mexican American War, and giving the US areas of Utah, California and Nevada (and portions of 4 other modern states)

1828: a protective series of tariffs to assist  American manufacturers is signed into law by President John Quincy Adams . . . 62% tax on 92% of all imported goods . . . “the tariff of abominations”

1780: near total darkness at noon in New England (caused by smoke from forest fires in Canada)

1536: beheading of Anne Boleyn

Lorraine Hansberry

I can’t believe that a government that has at its disposal a Federal Bureau of Investigation which cannot even find the murderers of Negroes, and by that method shows that it cares very little about American citizens who are black—really is off somewhere fighting a war for a bunch of other colored people, several thousand miles away. ~ lhlt.org

To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in her Own Words, was written by Lorraine Hansberry, an American writer best known for her 1957 play A Raisin in the Sun, a play that made Hansberry the first black author of a show on Broadway. After her death in 1965, Hansberry’s ex-husband and friend, songwriter and poet Robert Nemiroff, collated her unpublished writings and adapted them into a stage play that first ran from 1968 to 1969 off Broadway. It was then converted into an equally successful autobiography with the same title. ~ Wikipedia

In Hansberry’s honour, Nina Simone released a song, “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black,”  in 1969.

That I would end with a music video from Pete Townsend and the Who is probably not too surprising.

But the Ramones! Hey, just took a few decades and generations for me to sit through a whole Ramones song . . . (Watch at your own peril . . .)

Lorraine Hansberry image: missiomnimedia.com