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Arlo Guthrie Convicted of Littering
Arlo Guthrie Convicted of Littering
On this day in 1965, 20-year-old Arlo Guthrie was convicted of littering in the Berkshire County town of Stockbridge, and the song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" was born. The son of legendary musician Woody Guthrie, Arlo...
Deborah Sampson Performs in Boston
Deborah Sampson Performs in Boston
On this day in 1802, a performance of "The American Heroine" took place in a fashionable Boston theater. The audience watched spellbound as a middle-aged farmwife, dressed in the uniform of a Continental soldier, loaded...
King Gillette Patents Safety Razor
King Gillette Patents Safety Razor
On this day in 1904, Boston-based inventor King Camp Gillette received a patent for an improved safety razor with a disposable blade. After almost 10 years of work, Gillette succeeded in mass-producing a sharp blade...
The First Leprosy Patients Arrive on Penikese Island
The First Leprosy Patients Arrive on Penikese Island
On this day in 1905, five leprosy patients arrived on Penikese Island in Buzzard's Bay, the site of the first and only leprosarium in Massachusetts. Over the next 16 years, 36 victims of leprosy, or...
J.F.K. Signs Bill Creating Cape Cod National Seashore
J.F.K. Signs Bill Creating Cape Cod National Seashore
On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed a bill authorizing the establishment of Cape Cod National Seashore. A long-time summer resident of the Cape, J.F.K. had co-sponsored the legislation while in the...
First Missionaries Leave for Hawaii
First Missionaries Leave for Hawaii
On this day in 1819, a crowd gathered on a Boston wharf to bid farewell to the first Protestant missionaries bound for Hawaii. Among them were seven Massachusetts couples, four of them recently married. After...
Tupperware Inventor Born
Tupperware Inventor Born
On this day in 1907, Earl Tupper, inventor of Tupperware, was born. Raised in central Massachusetts, birthplace of the plastics industry, he was a compulsive tinkerer, inventing, among hundreds of other things, a fish-powered boat....
Sumner Attacked in U.S. Senate
Sumner Attacked in U.S. Senate
On this day in 1856, Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina, viciously attacked Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate. Three days earlier, in a passionate anti-slavery speech, Sumner...
The Birth of a Nation Sparks Protest
The Birth of a Nation Sparks Protest
On this day in 1915 Boston's African American community protested the showing of the racist film The Birth of a Nation. When 800 black women gathered at a Baptist church, one speaker suggested that "if...
Chinese Workers Arrive in North Adams
Chinese Workers Arrive in North Adams
On this day in 1870, a train arrived in North Adams with 75 young men from China hired to replace striking shoe workers. Over 2,000 people watched as the men walked to the factory under...