A Brief History On March 22, 1872, the State of Illinois became the first state to enact a law requiring equal treatment of men and women in hiring. The rest of the United States would not find this Gender Equality under the law until Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Employment Opportunity provision that made it illegal to discriminate in employment hiring based on race, color, national origin, religion or sex. Note: March is Women’s History Month. Digging Deeper Exactly 100 years after the ground breaking move by Illinois, the United States Congress sent the…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On March 21, 630, Emperor Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire returned what he believed to be the “True Cross” (the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified) to Jerusalem to its current place in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. Digging Deeper According to legend (or history), the mother of Emperor Constantine went on a holy mission to the Middle East, establishing Christian churches and aid stations for the poor along the way, searching for the Holy Sepulchre, the tomb of Jesus Christ and the True Cross. Coincidentally, in the immediate vicinity of the Holy Sepulchre is the…
A Brief History On March 20, 1985, 29 year old Libby Riddles from Madison, Wisconsin became the first woman ever to win the premier sled dog mushing race, the famed Iditarod. Digging Deeper Having moved to Alaska as a 17 year old, Libby became wild about mushing after watching her first race. Proving her abilities as a dog sled racing phenomenon, Libby won the 1978 Clines Mini Mart Sprint, the first race she competed in. Moving up to the big leagues of mushing, Libby first placed in the Iditarod in 1980 and 1981 when she finished 18th and 20th respectively. …
A Brief History On March 19, 1965, a diver and soon to become underwater archaeologist discovered the wreck of the SS Georgiana, a Confederate States of America cruiser sunk in Charleston Harbor in 1863. Built in Scotland, the Georgiana was on her maiden voyage to Charleston when she encountered Union blockade vessels and was heavily damaged. The cruiser was scuttled to avoid capture, her cargo worth about $50 million, including 350 pounds of gold. Digging Deeper Perhaps the most powerful cruiser in the Confederate Navy, the actual purpose of the Georgiana is unknown. The 205 foot long, 25 foot wide…
A Brief History On March 18, 1934, a photograph taken by astronomer par excellence Edwin Hubble showed that there were more galaxies of stars in the observable Universe than there were stars (100 billion!) in the Milky Way Galaxy. Digging Deeper The Milky Way Galaxy is a group of stars and associated planets and other material that the Earth and our Solar System are part of. As late as the early part of the 20th Century astronomers believed the Milky Way Galaxy was the Universe, until Hubble proved that other galaxies were considerably farther away than the limits of the…