In last Thursday’s post I gnashed
my teeth over the fact that U.S.
citizens celebrate Cinco de Mayo when it has nothing to do with the U.S. And over
the fact that those same people believe it’s a Mexican holiday when, in
reality, it is observed in only one of Mexico ’s thirty-one states. I
suggested that if Americans want an excuse to imbibe on May 5th, they should
say they are celebrating the anniversary of Alan Shepard becoming the first
American in space.
That bit of kvetching has gotten
me thinking about the deplorable state of our schools when it comes to teaching
American history.
To be sure, it is bars and beer
distributors, not teachers and principals, who are responsible for most of the
hype surrounding Cinco de Mayo. But the education establishment is responsible
for the fact that most Americans are more likely to know Mexico ’s
military once won a battle on May 5th than they are to know who Alan
Shepard even was -- much less that May 5th was the day of his seminal
achievement.
In President Reagan’s farewell
address he said: “So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion
but what’s important…If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m
warning of an eradication of that -- of the American memory -- that could
result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit.”
As is often the case, I agree
with the Gipper, but in this lone blogpost there is neither the time nor space needed
to recount the grand sweep of American history. Still, I figured this is as
good a place as any to mention some of the major events that rarely get
discussed these days, much less commemorated. So here they are:
January 1st: In 1914, the
world’s first commercial airline flight took place when Tony Jannus piloted a
Benoist XIV biplane from St. Petersburg , Florida (my home town!) to Tampa , Florida
January 16th: In 1938,
members of Benny Goodman’s band performed onstage at Carnegie Hall with members
of Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington’s bands. It was the first time that elite
white musicians and elite black musicians played together in such a high
profile, public venue, and a recording of the concert became the first double
album in world history.
March 23rd: In 1983,
President Reagan went on TV and announced the Strategic Defense Initiative: a
far-sighted plan to use ground- and space-based systems to defend the U.S. by identifying enemy missiles and shooting
them down before they could reach U.S. soil. Although the initiative
was lampooned as a fantasy by critics who referred to it as “Star Wars,”
ex-Soviet officials have confirmed that it played a key role in the
downfall of Soviet Communism.
April 9th: In 1865, the Civil War ended when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union
General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia .
April 18th: In 1775, under
cover of night, Paul Revere left Boston on
horseback to warn Massachusetts
colonists that British forces were invading the countryside.
May 8th: The Nazis
surrendered on this day in 1945, brining World War II to an end in Europe . For years afterward it was universally known as
V-E Day (for “Victory in Europe ”) but now that
phrase is rarely if ever heard.
May 10th: Construction of
the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, with the hammering
of “the last spike” at Promontory Summit in what would later become the state
of Utah . The
track connected the Atlantic and Pacific
coasts for the first time in history
June 3rd: Ed White (who
graduated from the same high school as me!) became the first American to walk
in space on this date in 1965.
June 6th: In 1944, U.S. and Allied
forces stormed French beaches in the invasion known as D-Day. Commencing a
sustained and ultimately successful attack against the occupying Nazi military,
D-Day hastened the end of World War II in Europe .
June 7th: In 1942,
precisely six months after Pearl
Harbor , U.S.
June 12th: Speaking at the
Brandenbeurg Gate in 1987, President Reagan exhorted Soviet dictator Mikhail
Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” 29 months later the Berlin Wall did fall when East Germany ’s government succumbed
to pressure and opened its gates.
June 26th: On the second
day of fighting in 1876, the U.S.
7th Cavalry, commanded by General George Armstrong Custer, was completely wiped
out by combined forces from the Sioux, Cheyenne ,
and Arapaho Indian tribes in the Battle
of the Little Bighorn. Not a single U.S. soldier survived in what became known as “Custer’s Last Stand.”
July 21st: In 1969, Neil
Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.
August 7th: In 1998, 223
people were killed when terrorists directed by Osama bin Laden simultaneously
bombed the U.S. embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania . Before that, bin Laden was almost unknown
to the American public.
August 15th: Japan surrendered on this date in 1945, bringing
all World War II hostilities to an end in what for years afterward was known as V-J Day “for Victory in Japan .”
As with V-E Day (see above) the importance of the date has ceased to be noted
on calendars.
September 3rd: The Treaty
of Paris was signed in 1783, ending the Revolutionary War and officially
ensuring the American colonies’ independence from Great Britain .
September 17th: The Battle
of Antietam took place near Sharpsburg ,
Maryland U.S. history.
September 23rd: In 1955,
nine black students known as the “Little Rock Nine” entered previously
segregated Central High School in Little
Rock , Arkansas
September 30th: In 1935,
with most of the construction already completed, Hoover Dam (then called
Boulder Dam) was ceremoniously dedicated by FDR. It paved the way for
prosperity in the Southwest by providing Arizona ,
Nevada and California with massive amounts of
hydroelectricity as well as irrigation water for farms and municipalities.
October 14th: On this date
in 1947, piloting an experimental plane, and in pain from two broken ribs that
he kept secret for fear of being taken off the project, Chuck Yeager became the
first man to fly faster than the speed of sound.
October 19th: Following
the Battle of Yorktown, British forces led by Lieutenant General Lord
Cornwallis surrendered to American forces led by George Washington in 1781. This helped
turn the tide of the Revolutionary War in favor of the American colonists.
December 1st: Rosa Parks
refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger: an act of rightful
defiance which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became a rallying point in
the Civil Rights Movement.
December 7th: In 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, seriously crippling the U.S. Navy’s
Pacific fleet and officially drawing the United States into World War II.
December 17th: In 1903, the Wright
Brothers completed the world’s first controlled, powered airplane flight at
Kill Devil Hills, close to Kitty Hawk ,
North Carolina
Of course there are many other
significant dates. And they connect all American generations to each other in a
shared striving for freedom and excellence. Let us see to it that our story story is never forgotten and our circle is never broken.
1 comment:
Excellent Post, John! I remember my studies in American History did not go so well in High School. Of course the main culprit was me and my determination to "have fun" and not take any books home to study after school. Finally, after two years of failing the course, I was put into a class taught by Mr. Stanley Butler (now deceased) who made history come alive and exciting with his dynamic and personal presentation of the subject matter. After receiving a passing grade (I think it was a C) on the third attempt, and realizing that if you took three years of a subject it became a "major", I began to say that I had "majored" in American History. Hahahaahaha Til this day I am fascinated by those who seem able to take cold data off the pages of a book and make them live.
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