A Brief History On December 9, 1872, P. B. S. Pinchback became the first ever African American governor of Louisiana, and in fact the first ever African American governor of any US State. Pinchback came to the governorship via the death of the serving Lieutenant Governor, a post to which he ascended from his position as President Pro Tempore of the Louisiana Senate, and then stepping up to the governorship when the elected governor, Henry Clay Warmoth was suspended from that office due to impeachment proceedings. Pinchback served only 34 days as Governor of Louisiana. Digging Deeper Born Pinckney Benton…
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A Brief History On December 7, 1941, a date that US President Franklin Roosevelt said “would live in infamy,” the Japanese navy attacked the naval and air bases on Oahu, Hawaii, most notably at Pearl Harbor, in a surprise attack (or sneak attack in the vernacular of the time) that devastated the American Pacific Fleet. While the Pearl Harbor raid captures most of our historical attention, the Empire of Japan was up to plenty of other shenanigans on that same day (also December 8, 1941 for those areas West of the International Date Line), kicking off a wider war intended…
A Brief History On December 6, 2019, we reflect back on our marathon movie watching experience of the previous night, namely the 209 minute long epic blockbuster film from Netflix, an historical crime film supposedly based on real events. Not only is the movie a long one (3 hours and 29 minutes), it is also an expensive one, with a budget of $159 million, an incredible amount for a streaming app film. Digging Deeper Directed by Martin Scorcese, he of such notable films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Cape Fear (remake), The Aviator, Casino, Shutter Island and The Wolf…
A Brief History On December 5, 1847, Jefferson Finis Davis of Mississippi was elected to the United States Senate. He had been appointed to the Senate by the Governor of Mississippi in August of 1847. Davis went on to serve as the US Secretary of War (1853-1857) and was reelected to the Senate in 1857, serving until he resigned in 1861 due to the onset of the American Civil War. Davis went on to the notoriety of being the only President of the Confederate States of America, the leader of a movement that would see the United States torn apart. …
A Brief History On December 4, 1829, the British Governor-General Lord William Bentinck, representative of the King of the United Kingdom in India, made a ruling that was vehemently opposed by local Indian people (presumably men) that made the traditional practice of suttee (also known as sati) illegal. This practice being outlawed was a time honored Indian tradition of a widow sits or lays on top of the funeral pyre of her husband, sacrificing herself by being incinerated along with the body of her deceased spouse. Suttee was a traditional practice in the Bengal region of India and had no…