This week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF) at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings is all about the Date You Were Born. Suddenly I was on a trip down memory lane…not to the day of my birth, but to my freshman year of college when I had to write about the day of my birth. What did I find out? Read all about it below – but first I will answer Randy’s specific challenge. He asks:
1) What day of the week were you born? Tell us how you found out.
I was born on a Wednesday. I found this out when my parents told me!
2) What has happened in recorded history on your birth date (day and month)? Tell us how you found out, and list five events.
I was born on the 67th day of 1967 (that’s March 8). On that day in history, there are a lot of events listed in Wikipedia. None of them, however, are earth-shattering historical events that are talked about centuries later. It appears that my birth might be the most exciting thing that ever happened that day (ahem). Here are five of the more interesting other events that have occurred on March 8th:
- 1775 – Thomas Paine’s “African Slavery in America,” the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery, is published.
- 1817 – The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
- 1917 – International Women’s Day protests in St. Petersburg contributed to the February Revolution and ultimately led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, ending the Romanov dynasty in Russia.
- 1979 – Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time.
- 1983 – President Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an “evil empire”.
3) What famous people have been born on your birth date? Tell us how you found out, and list five of them.
Using the same page in Wikipedia, I discovered these five others with my birthday:
- 1495 – John of God, Portuguese-born friar and saint (d. 1550)
- 1841 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1935)
- 1922 – Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (d. 2008)
- 1959 – Aidan Quinn, American actor
- 1945 – Micky Dolenz, American musician (The Monkees)
If we could get all of the musicians born on 3/8 together, we’d have an interesting group with members from The Monkees, The Eagles, Three Dog Night, Iron Maiden, and Keane. One can only imagine what that would sound like…
As I said in the beginning, I wrote an essay about the date of my birth for an English composition class in my freshman year of college. I found it in my files after seeing Randy’s challenge. The date I submitted it was January 22, 1986 – almost exactly 25 years ago. I was 19 years old and still had a lot to learn about writing, life, and myself. But my teacher, Mrs. Bonnie Balcer, loved the essay and many others that I wrote. She praised my writing and encouraged me so much that I credit her for my decision to abandon the ill-conceived idea that I wanted to be a teacher, and instead I majored in English. Twenty-five years later, I still have a lot to learn about writing, life, and myself. But I’d like to thank Mrs. Balcer, wherever she is, for pointing me in the write direction. (In looking for this essay, I also found one from my first semester of graduate school four years later. I wrote about my recent exploits in genealogical research. The title of that paper? What’s Past is Prologue. Yes, I will have to reprint that essay here as well…) This would have been a lot easier to reproduce here if it weren’t for the fact that back then I wrote on a typewriter…
This is the Day the Lord Has Made…Me
Wednesday, March 8, 1967 was an ordinary day in the lives of many people. No major headlines graced the front page of the New York Times, no scientific breakthroughs were made, and no events of great historical importance took place. Despite the mundaneness of the day, it was one of great significance to my family and me; it was the day of my birth. However, the world only celebrates one’s birthday if he is very famous, so the world continued its life as I began mine, neither of us concerned with the other. Looking back on that day, there were many interesting occurrences besides my birth.
The pages of the New York Times were filled with news about Vietnam. The North Vietmanese attacked an American zone for the second time in a week. Senator Robert F. Kennedy suggested that, in order to see if North Vietnam was sincere about wanting to negotiate, the United States should end bomb raids.
In the United States, Washington, D.C. seemed far removed from the Vietnam crisis. The big problem there was a dispute over where to house diplomats in the city. Those uninterested in that quarrel may have fancied the rumor that Press Secretary Henry Cabot Lodge might resign. People all over the U.S. may have been happy to see that Jimmy Hoffa was finally put into prison after ten years of escaping the sentence.
Besides all of these headlines, Roman Catholics of the world were told by the Vatican that only sacred music was permitted for use in Church. Because I grew up alien to the pre-Vatican II days, it was interesting to see the Church still receiving the impact of Vatican II at the time of my birth.
Two stories particularly resembled issues of today. One concerned abortion, an issue on which people take sides today. But in 1967 there was no question – abortion was illegal unless the mother’s life was endangered. The New York State legislature rejected a bill that would make the law more lenient. Because of the 15 to 3 vote, the state was criticized as trying to “abort abortion”.
The second familiar issue was nuclear disarmament. The U.S. and Russia proposed a treaty to ban the spread of nuclear weapons, but India felt it discriminated against non-nuclear countries. India also wanted joint action against the proposal. In a modern world that is still trying to achieve disarmament, it is evident that the treaty never came to life.
Another fascinating section of the paper was the entertainment section. Because faithful viewers protested the cancellation of Gunsmoke, it was returned to the air. The TV listings for the prime time hours of the major networks resembled the daytime schedules of independent stations today. Popular shows were Lost in Space, Batman, Green Acres, Gomer Pyle, Perry Mason, and The Beverly Hillbillies. Today’s hit, The Cosby Show, was far from Bill Cosby’s mind as he enjoyed fame with I Spy. One facet of 1967 television was exactly the same as today – the soap operas. Some were General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, and Guiding Light, all of which can be seen today.
Coke is another part of our culture that is still around today, and it was in the headlines in 1967 as in recent months. There wasn’t any talk of “New Coke,” “Old Coke,” or “Coke Classic” though. The news concerned the price, which was scheduled to go up from 10 cents to 15 cents a bottle. If Coke’s price doesn’t best reflect the economy, the price of gold does – a mere $35 an ounce.
As anyone can see, the world of 1967 is both different and similar to the world of 1986. Many changes have occurred in the past 19 years, although not all of the changes were good. The world still has little concern for me, as on that cold day in March, and at times I have little concern for it. We’ve both grown a lot, but I can’t say if we’ve both “grown up.” I’m glad I did.
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Why, oh why didn’t someone give that newborn baby her weight in gold?
What's Past is Prologue 