Trending Moments

Skater Nancy Kerrigan Assaulted

January 6, 1994
January 6, 1994

Skater Nancy Kerrigan Assaulted

On this day in 1994, Nancy Kerrigan of Stoneham was practicing for the U.S Figure Skating championships. As she left the ice and stopped to speak to a reporter, a man assaulted her with a...

First "National Day of Mourning" Held in Plymouth

November 26, 1970
November 26, 1970

First "National Day of Mourning" Held in Plymouth

On this day in 1970, a group of Native Americans attending a Thanksgiving feast in Plymouth walked out in protest. The Indians and their supporters gathered on a hill overlooking Plymouth Rock near a statue...

Quakers Outlawed in Plymouth

December 3, 1658
December 3, 1658

Quakers Outlawed in Plymouth

On this day in 1658, Plymouth Court ordered that any boat carrying Quakers to Sandwich be seized to prevent the religious heretics from landing. A year earlier, Quakers in Sandwich had established the first Friends‘...

Clarence Birdseye Tests Frozen Food

March 6, 1930
March 6, 1930

Clarence Birdseye Tests Frozen Food

On this day in 1930, shoppers in Springfield became the first Americans to find frozen food in their grocery stores. A test marketing program was designed to see if people would buy frozen food. And...

Dorothea Dix Begins Her Crusade

March 28, 1841
March 28, 1841

Dorothea Dix Begins Her Crusade

On this day in 1841, Dorothea Dix visited an East Cambridge jail and was appalled to see mentally ill women confined alongside hardened criminals. The 40-year-old teacher and writer had been exposed to the work...

The Fortune Sails from Plymouth for England

December 13, 1621
December 13, 1621

The Fortune Sails from Plymouth for England

On this day in 1621, the ship Fortune set sail from Plymouth Colony. The arrival of the vessel two weeks earlier — sent by the English investors who had funded the Mayflower colonists— should have...

Abbie Hoffman Dies

April 12, 1989
April 12, 1989

Abbie Hoffman Dies

On this day in 1989, Worcester native Abbie Hoffman died from a drug overdose. A hero of the 1960s counter culture, Hoffman once told a reporter, "I never left Worcester." He was 30 when he...

Herman Melville Sails from New Bedford

January 3, 1841
January 3, 1841

Herman Melville Sails from New Bedford

On this day in 1841, Herman Melville boarded the whaleship Acushnet and sailed out of New Bedford, the whaling capital of the world. As he later wrote about his character Ishmael, that ship would be...

The Crucible Opens on Broadway

January 22, 1953
January 22, 1953

The Crucible Opens on Broadway

On this day in 1953, Arthur Miller's play The Crucible opened on Broadway. Four years after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman, Miller had written a far more controversial play. Set in...

Isaac Asimov Born

January 2, 1920
January 2, 1920

Isaac Asimov Born

On this day in 1920, Isaac Asimov was born. He grew up in New York, but it was during his two decades in Boston that he made his name as a master of science fiction....

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