Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin on this date in 1852. Two years later on the same date, the Republican Party of the US was organized in Ripon, Wisconsin. And in 1883 the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property – the first intellectual property treaty – was signed.

In 1913 Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity and in 1922 the first US Navy aircraft carrier – the USS Langley – was commissioned. NBC and CBS broadcast the first telecasts of classical music in 1948, featuring Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini.

Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the 1,1135-mile Itidarod Trai dog sled race in 1985. The FDA approved the anti-AIDS drug AZT in 1987. And in 2003 the US, UK, Australia, and Poland invaded Iraq to start the ill-fated quagmire that was the Iraq War.

Roman poet Ovid entered the world in 43 AD. Norwegian poet, playwright, and director Henrik Ibsen joined us in 1828. And B.F.Skinner began to psychoanalyze us in 1904.

This was the birthday of several TV personalities: Fred Rogers (and his neighborhood 1928), John de Lance (1948 Q Star Trek TNG), William Hurt (1950 Big Chill), and director Spike Lee (1957).

English King Henry IV of a couple of Shakespeare’s plays laid down his crown in 1413. American broadcaster Chet Huntley (of the Huntley/Brinkley report) spoke his last words in 1974. American billionaire and philanthropist David Rockefeller spent his last dime in 2017. And the great country singer Kenny Rogers finally folded in 2020.

There are four designations for this day – Great American Meat Out, International Day of Happiness (UN), National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and World Sparrow Day.