Saturday, May 10, 2008

 

Spotlight: Hillary Clinton may be the first woman to make a serious run for the office of President of the United States. But, she would not be the first to be nominated. On this date in 1872, the Equal Rights Party nominated Victoria Woodhull as its candidate for president. That same year, the party nominated Frederick Douglass as the first black vice presidential candidate. This was two years after the US Constitution was amended to give blacks the right to vote and nearly 50 years before women got that same right.

Quote: "Let women issue a declaration of independence sexually, and absolutely refuse to cohabit with men until they are acknowledged as equals in everything, and the victory would be won in a single week." — Victoria Woodhull

Question of the Day: Why did the Equal Rights Party choose Victoria Woodhull as its candidate for president in 1872?
One of the main causes of the Equal Rights Party was women's suffrage. Victoria Woodhull was a flamboyant and outspoken proponent of equal rights for women, blacks, the poor and all kinds of minority groups. She and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, were the first women to own a brokerage firm on Wall St., and they owned and operated a newspaper called Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly. The newspaper later became the first one to publish Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel's "Communist Manifesto" in English. More

Word of the day: hereditament
Any property, whether real or personal, tangible or intangible, that may be inherited.
Example: Buildings, lands, and Leaseholds are examples of hereditaments.
(© Barron's Educational Series, Inc.)

Today's History:

Driving In the Golden Spike

• transcontinental railroad: a golden spike linked the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines at Promontory Summit (1869)
• J. Edgar Hoover: became director of the FBI; he held the post until his death 48 years later (1924)
• Nazi book burnings: as part of Goebbels' "synchronization of culture," some 25,000 "un-German" volumes were destroyed in a single day (1933)
• Micronesia: adopted a constitution, becoming a self-governing federation (1979)
• Nelson Mandela: South Africa's first black president was sworn in to office (1994)

Today's Birthdays:

Hoofer Fred Astaire

• Fred Astaire (1899-1987): elegant and dapper dancer/actor; considered one of America's greatest tap dancers
• David O. Selznick (1902-1965): producer of such films as King Kong and Gone with the Wind
• Barbara Taylor Bradford (75): bestselling author of romantic novels, A Woman of Substance
• Jim Abrahams (64): writer/director of parodies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun
• Bono (48): lead singer of U2 and social activist
• Linda Evangelista (43): Canadian supermodel