On This Date In History - The Bill Of Rights, among many other things... December 15

One of the first things I scan in the morning is AP News and Reuters.  AP News has the section, "On This Day In History"; today, December 15, a lot more notable events happened.

US Bill of Rights; the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, went into effect following ratification by Virginia. 

In 1890, Hunkpapa Lakota Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, South Dakota, during a confrontation with Indian agency police.

 

Sitting Bull 

Sitting Bull (born c. 1831, near Grand River, Dakota Territory [now in South Dakota], U.S.—died December 15, 1890, on the Grand River in South Dakota) was a Lakota (Teton) chief under whom the Oceti Sakowin (Sioux) peoples united in their struggle against the encroachment of settlers on the northern Great Plains. As principal chief of the northern hunting Oceti Sakowin, he led forces against the U.S. Army at the Battles of the Rosebud and Little Bighorn. Despite his victories, famine eventually made Sitting Bull and his followers surrender to the United States.  Source: Britannica 

In 1939, the Civil War motion picture epic “Gone with the Wind,” starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, had its world premiere in Atlanta.

 

Not "Gone With The Wind" 

Gone with the Wind, American epic film, released in 1939, that is one of the best known and most successful films of all time. Based on the runaway best-selling 1936 novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, the movie chronicles the tumultuous ups and downs in the life of Scarlett O’Hara (played by Vivien Leigh), the daughter of a Georgia planter, in the years immediately before, during, and after the American Civil War. Source: Britannica, photo source: The Carol Burnett Show.

In 1944, a single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller, a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces, disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

 

Glen Miller 

 

One of the only artists my folks listened to when I was growing up.  

Glenn Miller and his Orchestra was the best-selling recording band from 1939 to 1942. Unlike his military unit, Miller's civilian band did not have a string section, but it did have a [stand up bass] in the rhythm section. It was also a touring band that played multiple radio broadcasts nearly every day. Its best-selling records include Miller's theme song, "Moonlight Serenade", and the first gold record ever made, "Chattanooga Choo Choo", a song on the soundtrack of Miller's first film, Sun Valley Serenade, and the number-one song in the United States on December 7, 1941. The following tunes are also on that best-seller list: "In the Mood", "Pennsylvania 6-5000" (printed as "Pennsylvania Six-Five Thousand" on record labels), "A String of Pearls", "Moonlight Cocktail", "At Last", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", "Little Brown Jug", and "Anvil Chorus". Source: Wikipedia 

In 1967, the Silver Bridge between Gallipolis, Ohio, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people.

I remember the event!   At 5 p.m. on December 15, 1967, eyewitnesses recall, there was a loud gunshot-like noise and, “folding like a deck of cards” in less than 20 seconds, the entire 1460-foot suspended portion of the Silver Bridge collapsed into the river, taking with it 32 vehicles and 46 victims, including two whose bodies were never found. Source: WV DOT 

 

This event was also included as a plot point in the 2002 Richard Gere motion picture, "The Mothman Prophecies".   

In 2011, the flag used by U.S. forces in Iraq was lowered in a Baghdad airport ceremony, marking the formal end of a war that had left 110,000 Iraqis and 4,500 Americans dead.

 

 

In a ceremony held in Baghdad on December 15, 2011, the war that began in 2003 with the American-led invasion of Iraq officially comes to an end. But violence continued and in fact worsened over the subsequent years. The withdrawal of American troops had been a priority of President Barack Obama, but by the time he left office the United States would again be conducting military operations in Iraq. Source: This Day In History

In 2013, Nelson Mandela was laid to rest in his childhood hometown, ending a 10-day mourning period for South Africa’s first Black president.

 

 

Former South African President Nelson Mandela actively protested apartheid for most of his life, and he is known for being one of the world's most famous political prisoners. His anti-apartheid activism never faltered: He delivered speeches, wrote letters while imprisoned and, after his release, negotiated with South African government officials to end apartheid in the 1990s. Source: NPR

 

 In 2016, a federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, convicted Dylann Roof of killing nine Black church members who had welcomed him into their Bible study gathering.  

 

I will not glorify a mass murderer, post his photo or outline his ideology, but note the victims of his brutal assault.  On June 17, 2015, nine people were shot and killed inside Mother Emanuel. The victims included South Carolina State Senator Clementa Pinckney, senior pastor, and eight members of his congregation: Cynthia Hurd, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Susie Jackson, Myra Thompson, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, and Daniel Simmons. There was a tenth victim who was also shot but survived.  Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white male, was arrested shortly afterwards and charged with nine counts of murder. The killings were investigated by state and federal law enforcement officials as a possible hate crime, and it was found that they were.  Source: Wikipedia 

 

A lot to process for the day

Onward,

Rade