This is my favorite time of the year. Birds are chirping, people are sitting on their porches, and winter coats have disappeared. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching Detroit come back to life with Slow Roll, cookouts, and outside sports. The month of April included a trip home to speak at my Alma mater and a lovely day at the horse track in Lexington. Being a small history buff, I seem to become hyper aware of historical events during the month of April. This phenomena happens because I do remember history class growing up; and also because the accounts I follow on Twitter remind me. Nevertheless, I think it is important to share some vital American history facts that have occurred during April – one of my favorite months of the year.
April 4, 1968 – Dr. Martin Luther King was killed by a sniper in Memphis, Tennessee. He is best known for his “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. His efforts eventually led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
April 6, 1896 – After a hiatus of 1500 years, the first Olympics of modern times was held in Athens, Greece.
April 9, 1865 – The Civil War effectively ended as General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in the village of Appomattox Court House. Approximately 500,000 soldiers died during the war.
April 9, 1866 – The Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was passed by Congress giving blacks the privileges of U.S. citizenship.
April 11, 1970 – Apollo 13 was launched from Cape Kennedy. An oxygen tank exploded fifty-six hours into the flight in the service module and astronaut John L. Swigert saw a warning light that accompanied the bang. This is where the famous phrase “Houston, we’ve had a problem here” came from.
April 12, 1861 – The bloodiest war in America’s history began as The Civil War started when Confederate troops under the command of General Pierre Beauregard opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.
April 12, 1961 – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.
April 14, 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot while watching the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington. He died in a nearby house the following morning at 7:22 a.m.
April 15, 1912 – In the icy waters off Newfoundland, the Titanic, with 2,224 persons on board, sank at 2:27 a.m. after hitting a large iceberg just before midnight. During the next two and a half hours, over 1,500 persons drowned while 700 were rescued by another ship, the Carpathia.
April 18, 1775 – The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes occurred as the two men rode out of Boston around 10 p.m. to warn patriots at Lexington and Concord of the advancing British.
April 20, 1945 – The Battle of Berlin, which was the last offensive of the Ally forces in World War II, began.
April 30, 1789 – George Washington became the first U.S. President after taking his oath in New York City.
April 30, 1967 – Heavy Weight Boxer Muhammad Ali was stripped of his boxing championship after refusing to be comply with his American military draft notice.
Please don’t think I forgot about our beautiful city of Detroit! Here are two vital April facts that occurred right here in the “D”.
April 16, 1895 – The Detroit Free press renamed the “Detroit Creams” the “Detroit Tigers”. The name “Creams” came from owner George Vanderbeck who used to say the team would be the “cream of the league.”
April 21, 1806 – After a fire burned down nearly all of Detroit on June 11, 1805, the Michigan Territory was established effective June 30, 1805 as a separate territory with Detroit as the capital. Newly appointed judges and governors convinced the United States Congress to pass an act on April 21, 1806 authorizing them to lay out a town that included all of the old town of Detroit plus an additional 10,000 acres to be used as repayment for persons who lost their property in the fire.