Hoffman's Historical Facts - June


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MRS. HOFFMAN'S HODGEPODGE OF HISTORICAL FACTS


Welcome to June!  Let's make June about American heroes.  Who do you think is an American hero? Add yours to the list at the bottom.  If you like one of my heroes, tell me. I know there are more than 30 American heroes out there.  I also know that thousands of heroes put their lives on the line every day in the name of freedom.  So, while I don't have enough room to tell you about all of them, I hope you like the first person I chose.  His words ignited a group of people to fight for something important - freedom.

 Just as the page states - it is a hodgepodge of American History Facts

Think of this as a treasure hunt.  You never know what delightful fact you might learn that day.

Enjoy

Mrs. Hoffman

June 1, 2012 - I think we can start with Patrick Henry.  With his speech of "Give me liberty or give me death" he started a fervor that swept the 13 colonies until we finally did have liberty from Great Britain.

June 2, 2012 - Nat Turner - Who is he? Nat Turner was born into slavery in 1800.  He became a preacher and incited a rebellion claiming he was chosen to lead slaves from bondage, much like Moses did in Egypt.  He was taught to read and write but was sold three times before he was 20.  He killed his recent masters and was caught and eventually hanged.  His importance - the Southerners were now afraid of the slaves and what would happen if they rose up against them. He is a hero because he dared to speak out about the unfairness of slavery and for getting others to join his movement.

June 3, 2012 - Who is Charles Richard Drew?  He was an African American physician who worked with Dr. John Scudder and discovered the body needed to balance the fluids - especially after a trauma.  One thing they discovered was how important plasma was in an emergency situation.  He also helped set up blood banks to help in emergencies.

June 4, 2012 - Harriet Beecher Stowe published more than 30 books during her lifetime.  Her most famous one, Uncle Tom's Cabin helped incite people to act against slavery.  She was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. She actually began writing her famous book as installments to a The National Era.  The publisher asked her to write a story to "paint a word picture  of slavery".  She wrote more than 40 installments of the story, The first installment appeared on June 5, 1851.  Her stories were based on first-hand accounts.

June 5, 2012 - Neil Armstrong - he was the first man to walk on the moon.  Imagine being sent into space in a can, hurtling through space with no real promise you would return to Earth.  He learned to fly planes when he was 15, and went to fight in the Korean War as a pilot.  In 1966 he was one of 3 men chosen to be part of the moon landing.  He landed on the moon in 1969.


June 6, 2012 - Booker T Washington - (1856-1915)  He was born a slave but was emanicipated and he was able to find work elsewhere,  His mother taught him to read and write and do numbers. He headed the Tuskegee Institute after General Armstrong recommended him for the job.  He felt that if African Americans worked hard and obtained financial independence and cultural advancement, they would win acceptance and respect.

June 7, 2012 - Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) - He was the first African American to play on an all white baseball team in the professional league.  He excelled in any sport he played as a child and went to UCLA and played sports in college.  He served in World War II as an officer.  In 1947, he was brought up into the major league and taught to play first base.  He was teased and threatened by players, fans, and even other team owners, but he kept on playing.  His number "42" has been retired and no team can ever give out the number in honor of him.

June 8, 2012 - Pat Tillman (1976-2004) He was a professional football player for the Arizona Cardinals, but he volunteered after the 9/11 attacks and chose to fight for our country.  He turned down contracts with the Cardinals to enlist in the army.  He served in Iraq and was then sent to Afghanistan.  He was killed by friendly fire while serving.

June 9, 2012 - Jonas Salk - (1914-1995) - Thanks to Jonas Salk, there is a vaccine for polio, the very disease that crippled one of our presidents - Franklin D. Roosevelt.  When he was in college, he started to love medicine.  Not only was a gifted doctor, but he did research on infectious diseases.  He first started looking for cures for influenza. He decided to test the with a "killed" vaccine instead of a live one. In 1954, his vaccine was tested on 2 million children.  He never patented his vaccine.

June 10, 2012 - William Penn.  William Penn came to the Americas with a dream.  He was a Quaker, whose father had fought as an admiral for King Charles II.  The land he was given had already been settled by Swedes, but he allowed them to keep their plots of land.  He also did not feel anyone should force the Indians off their land. He hoped all could live together and his policy was a shining example for others who came to settle in the Americas.

June 11, 2012 - George Washington Carver (1865-1943) - He was born into slavery at the very end of the Civil War.  He was bought by James Carver who became his guardian.  He loved plants and became known as the plant doctor.  He was the first black student to attend Simpson College in Iowa.  He then transferred to Iowa State and was its first black student.  He earned his Master's degree in 1896.  He was a faculty member at Tuskegee Institute.  He discovered over 300 product uses for peanuts and 100 for the sweet potato.

June 12, 2012 - William Boeing (1881-1956) - When you think of Boeing you think of airplanes.   William Boeing founded the largest aviation company in the world.   He attended Yale University but left to start his own lumber business (his father made a fortune in iron ore and lumber). He flew in his first air machine in 1914.  He started Boeing with a naval engineer George Westervelt.

June 13, 2012 - Lena Horne (1917-2010) She spent most of her childhood with her grandparents.  Her mother traveled around the country dancing and acting. She got a job at the Cotton Club and before long was performing on Broadway. She had to fight against discrimination before her songs became popular.

June 14, 2012 - Since today is Flag Day, I thought it would be great to use Betsy Ross as the heroine for the day.  Betsy Ross (1752-1836) - was recruited by George Washington himself to sew the first flag.  Even as Loyalists surrounded her home, she kept on sewing late into the night while all slept as she finished the flag.

June 15, 2012 - Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Everywhere you go in Philadelphia you will find things either named after Franklin or it's a place where he has been.  With good reason, he was an amazing man who did not rest on his early laurels but continued to make life better throughout his own life.  On this day in 1752, he discovered that lightning is electricity when he flew his kite that had a key on the end.

June 16, 2012 - David Crockett - who fought at the Alamo.  While the true story of Crockett's demise may never be really known, he did die at the Alamo defending American soil from the Mexican army and Santa Anna.  Some say he died while killing nearly a dozen Mexicans.  Others state he surrendered and was killed while being held prisoner.  No one knows the truth but he became a legend just the same.

June 17, 2012 - Today's heroes are Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet who navigated the Mississippi River.  They began this journey in 1673.  Marquette was a French explorer and Roman Catholic missionary.  Jolliet was a French-Canadian explorer.  They were the first white explorers to reach Illinois and Wisconsin.

June 18, 2012 - Sally Ride is our hero today.  She is the first woman astronaut to go into space.  She was born in 1951 and became an astronaut in 1979.  She served as mission specialist on STS-2 and STS-3.  She became a professor at University of California and even started her own company - Sally Ride Science - www.sallyridescience.com.  Her company helps young girls pursue careers in science.  She has also written 5 children's books.

June 19, 2012 - General George Meade - he led the Union troops against General Lee at Gettysburg.  About 95,000 Union troops faced 75,000 Confederate troops atop Cemetery Ridge.  The fighting took place from July 1-3 in 1863.  Lee could not defeat the Union Army under Meade those days.  The casualties were great for both sides. While neither side really won, it proved to be the decisive battle in the war.

June 20, 2012 - Bostonians of the Boston Tea party - why?  These men were angry over the British taxes on everything, but when they lowered the tax on tea, even lower than smuggled tea, the colonists became angry.  They refused to purchase anything that had a tax on it that was not agreed upon by the colonists. So, on the night of December 16th, 1776, a group of colonists dressed as Mohawks went down to the harbor and boarded several ships.  They tossed 342 chests of tea into the harbor.  At the time, the tea was worth $17,000.  These men showed Britain they would not be ignored.  No more taxation without representation.


June 21, 2012 - Chicago's Mayor Roswell B Mason could be called a hero.  During the Great Chicago Fire, he went to the Courthouse and stayed there as long as he could.  He watched over the fire's progress and telegraphed mayors from other cities begging for help.  By the time he was safely able to depart, he could not reach his home.  He had to take a circuitous route and it took him over 3 hours to get home.


June 22, 2012 - The men and women stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked.  The men in the military raced to help those who needed it, they ran to their stations and began to shoot down the Japanese bombers before more damage could hit.  The nurses raced to help the injured.  Each man and woman was a hero that day.


June 23, 2012 - Yesterday it was the men and women at Pearl Harbor.  Today's it's Clara Barton and women like her.  She had no medical training except for nursing sick fmily members as was the case for many women during the Civil War. When the injured started coming into the capital, she organized supplies and relief for the soldiers.  She worked with the wounded for the entire war and was even appointed the superintendent of nurses.  She helped locate missing soldiers and sent word to families in the Confederacy.  In 1881, she organized the American Red Cross.  Without her diligence, people around the world would not have the help they needed.  The men and women who worked for her should be commended as heroes.


June 24, 2012 - The men and women who traveled into space deserve to be our heroes today.  On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy proposed to create a council for unifying our satellite program.  If not for his push, we would have put women and women into space.  Brave men and women took a huge chance in climbing into a rocket that would send them orbiting in space and ultimately landing on the moon.  God only knows someday those spaceships might even take them to a far off planet.


June 25, 2012 - Today I chose Christopher Columbus and his crew aboard the Nina,, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  Agreeing to go onboard a ship heading across the ocean, when you think there's nothing on the other side.  They did this and wheile we do know from history that were tempted to do mutiny, Columbus convinced them to give him a few more days.  Those days made all the difference.


June 26, 2012 - Rosa Parks is called a hero for her stand that day when what she did was sit.  Amazingly an older woman who decided to stay in her seat became a symbol for many others.  Her bravery helped change a nation.  Her bravery helped change the way people saw others and how they were treated.  Sometimes it's just as important to sit as it is to take a stand.


June 27, 2012 – Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan.  Helen Keller lost her hearing and speech when she was only 1 ½ after getting very ill.  With the help of Anne Sullivan, she learned to do sign languge.  When she was 16, she actually attended school and then college.  She was very active throughout her life giving tours, lectures, and she even wrote books about being blind. Nothing stopped her from telling the world that being blind and deaf was only a handicap if you let it.


June 28, 2012 - Today's heroes are the firemen and policemen who go to work everyday knowing something might happen to endanger their lives.  They go to help others.  Without the present of our policemen and firemen, chaos would reign in the country.


June 29, 2012 - William James Mayo - many have heard of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.  He was born in 1861 and he was an American physician.  He started the Mayo Clinic with his father and brother and was the first to have a group practice.  They donated $1.5 million dollars to start the Mayo Foundation and graduate School of Medicine.  People from all over the world travel to the Mayo Clinic for medical assistance.


June 30, 2012 - My final hero is Jim Thorpe.  With the Olympics fast approaching, I decided to choose Jim Thorpe because he has often been called the world's greatest athlete.  He competed in the 1912 Olympics and won the gold medal in the pentathalon and decathalon.  Later his medals were stripped of him because it was claimed he was a semi-professional.  In 1982, his medals were finally restored to him.  He also excelled in baseball as he played for the New York Giants.  He also played football for the Canton Bully dogs.



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