This Day…

1820 – Judith Sargent Murray, American author, playwright, poet and women’s rights advocate, known for her essay “On the Equality of the Sexes” published in the Massachusetts Magazine in 1790 (b. 1751) passed away.

1916 – Iva Toguri D’Aquino, “Tokyo Rose”, American typist and broadcaster, broadcast English-language propaganda via Radio Tokyo to Allied soldiers during WWII was born; the Department of Justice deemed her information innocuous, but she was eventually tried and convicted of one count of treason. She was eventually pardoned after witness testimony was shown to be false.  (d. 2006)

1824 – Ednah Dow Cheney, American author, lecturer, reformer and philanthropist, active in the Freedman’s Aid Society, Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, and the New England Hospital for Women and children among others (d. 1904)

Susan LaFlesche Picotte  was born on this day in 1865.  She was an Omaha physician, first American Indian woman to become a physician in the United States, founder of the Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital (d. 1915)

1879 – Lois Weber, American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer and director, considered one of the most important film directors of the silent film era is born. (d. 1939)

1824 – Jessie Ann Benton Frémont, American author and activist, outspoken opponent of slavery, known for her writings about her husband, John C. Frémont, and their lives in the western US (d. 1902)

1861 – Victoria Earle Matthews, American author, essayist, journalist, settlement worker and activist; founder of the White Rose Mission, a settlement house for young black women (d. 1907)

1930 – Amy Johnson becomes the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia when she lands in Darwin, Northern Territory.

1934 – The American outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana.

1930 – Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright and director, best known work is the play A Raisin in the Sun, first black woman to have one of her plays performed on Broadway (d. 1965)