September
The first Sunday after Labor Day is Grandparents' Day
Back-to-school bulletin boards:
Cover a bulletin board with blue paper. Cut out letters to read "What Would You Do Today If You Were Brave?" Students write on it in colored gel pens. Related book covers could also be displayed on the bulletin board.
Cover a bulletin board with a red and white checked tablecloth. Cut out letters to read "This Year Will Be a Real Picnic!" Make large black ants out of construction paper and give them pipe-cleaner antenna and wiggle eyes. On each ant body write a student's name using gel pens so they show up on the black ant. Staple the ants to the border of the board. Write the subjects for the class (reading, spelling, handwriting, etc.) on white paper plates and staple them in the center of the tablecloth. Place a real picnic basket on the floor and fill it with several of books related to the subjects that will be studied or books about the first days of school.
Write a question on one side of a circle hanging from a string on a bulletin board. As students discover the answers to the questions, write the answers on the back of the circle. Some questions should have clear answers; others should not. some of the answers could be pictures. Other answers could be opinions. Encourage students to begin contributing their own wonderings. This could serve as a bank of questions for learning activities.
First Day of School
*Getting to know your classmates
Materials: two rolls of toilet paper (perforated, so it's easy to tear)
Activity time: 30 - 45 minutes
1. Have all the students sit at their desk, without talking.
2. Take out two rolls of TP and tell the students to "Take as much as you think you'll need." This provokes a lot of questions, but DO NOT say anything more. Send a roll around at both sides of the room (this helps the activity to move along more quickly).
3, Once all students have taken "what they need," collect the unused TP.
4. Now tell the students that for each square they ripped off, they have to give one fact about themselves. (M&Ms, jelly beans, Cheerios, etc. could be used instead of TP)
*Hand a clothesline somewhere in the classroom or outside in the hallway. Have students trace, cut out, and decorate paper t-shirts with objects and words about themselves, such as favorite foods, sports, activities, etc.
*Give students a license plate template and ask them to describe an important aspect of their character in eight or less letters and/or numbers. They can decorate their plates and then explain why their choice of letters or numbers fits them. Post the plates around the room or on a bulletin board.
A "welcome bag" for students (or teachers or parents):
* an apple (because each of you is the "apple of my eye")
*a bandage or Band-Aid(to remind you to heal hurt feelings in your friends and in yourself, I am here to help heal hurt feelings, for when things get a little rough)
*a Butterfinger (to remind you that we are all human and make mistakes)
*a button (reminds you to "button your lip" and don't tattletale)
*a chocolate kiss (to comfort you when you are feeling sad)
*a clothespin (to hang in there when things get tough)
*a cotton ball (to remind you that this room is full of kind words and warm feelings)
*an eraser (to remind you that everyone makes mistakes and that it is OK, we all makes mistakes and can fix them, those who never make mistakes never make anything, to use when you check over your work)
*a crayon (to color your day)
*a gold ribbon (to remind you that friendship ties our hearts together)
*a gold thread (friendship and respect are the golden threads that tie the hearts of each of us together)
*a happy face (reminds you to keep smiling, wear a smile everyday)
*a Hershey's Hug (for all the hard work you put into your work)
*Hugs & Kisses (to make everything worthwhile)
*a Life Saver (to remind you that you can come to me if you need someone to talk to)
*a marble (to replace those you lose from time to time)
*movable eyes (we should keep "an eye out" for each other)
*an orange (orange you glad you are in this class?)
*a paper clip (to help hold everything together when it seems to be falling apart)
*a pencil (to help you record the knowledge you have learn)
*a pencil grip (to get a grip on the task at hand)
*a penny ( to remind you that you are valuable and special, to shine and always try your best, for your thoughts in writers workshop)
*a pipe cleaner (we all have to be flexible and be willing to bend a little)
*a puzzle piece (without you, things wouldn't be complete)
*a rubber band (to remind you to hug someone, to help you stretch your imagination)
*a sequin (you are valuable)
*Smarties (you are all smart in different ways, to boost your test taking brain power)
*a sponge (to soak up the over-flow when you brain is too full)
*a star (keep shining and always try your best, you are a superstar, to remind you that you set a shining example)
*a sticker (to remind you that we will all stick together and help each other, we are a team and always stick together, to help you stick with the task at hand)
*thread (to remind us that friendship ties our hearts together)
*a tissue (to remind you to help dry someone's tears)
*a toothpick (to remind you to "pick out" the good qualities in your classmates and in yourself)
*wooden heart (you are safe and secure in our room)
Signs of Autumn lesson plan: http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/lessons/lesson.asp?ID=1800
"This is a culminating activity on the study of photosynthesis, how chlorophyll is important to leaves, and why leaves change colors in the fall."
Sept. 1
-1939: World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
September 2
1945: Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II.
September 3
Australian National Flag Day
-1926: The murder trial of gangster Lefty Lewis started in Cook County, IL.
-1992: The first PowerPC chips arrived at Apple Computer in Cupertino CA.
-1976: The unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the planet's surface.
September 4
-1957: Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.
September 6
-1533: England's Queen Elizabeth I was born.
-1822: Brazil declared independence from Portugal.
-1860: American primitive painter Anna "Grandma" Moses was born.
-1867: Financier J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. was born.
-1892: James Corbett knocked out John L. Sullivan in the 21st round of a prize fight at New Orleans, the first major fight under the Marquees of Queensberry Rules.
-1901: The Boxer Rebellion in China ended with the Boxer Protocol.
-1908: Heart surgeon Michael DeBakey was born.
-1909: Film director Elia Kazan was born.
-1914: Physicist and rocket developer James Van Allen was born.
-1923: Actor Peter Lawford was born.
-1924: Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii was born.
-1936: Rock 'n' roll pioneer Buddy Holly was born.
-1937: Actor John Philip Law ("The Russians Are Coming, The
Russians Are Coming") was born.
-1942: Richard Roundtree was born.
-1940: Nazi Germany launched the London blitz, a bombing that Adolf Hitler believed would soften Britain for invasion. The invasion never materialized.
-1950: Susan Blakey was born.
-1951: Julie Kavner ("The Simpsons") was born.
-1954: Corbin Bernsen ("L.A. Law") was born.
-1956: Musician Michael Feinstein was born.
-1986: Desmond Tutu was installed as the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, becoming first black titular head of South Africa's fourth-largest Christian church.
-1991: A European Community-sponsored Yugoslav peace conference opened in The Hague, Netherlands.
-1992: Black soldiers in the South African homeland of Ciskei killed 23 people and wounded nearly 200 when they fired on thousands of African National Congress supporters.
-1992: 12 people were killed when a twin-engine plane carrying skydivers crashed in a soybean field in Hinckley, Ill.
-1992: Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent quit, five days after the game's owners resoundingly voted to ask him to resign.
-1993: President Clinton and Vice President Gore announced a broad program to streamline the government.
-1993: South Africa's ruling National Party agreed to share power with a multi-party council that would be established within two months.
-1996: "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian assisted in a 40th suicide in Michigan.
-1999: Viacom, the world's largest cable network company, announced plans to buy CBS.
September 10
-1929: Arnold Palmer, pro golfer, was born in Latrobe, PA.
September 11
-1924: Tom Landry, football player and coach, was born in Mission, Texas.
September 12
-1913: Jesse Owens, track and field athlete, was born in Danville, AL.
-1977: South African black student leader Steven Biko died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.
September 13
-1916: Roald Dahl was born.
-1993: At the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
September 14:
-1959: The Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashed onto the lunar surface.
September 15
-1963: Four children were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at a black Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama.
September 16
-1974: President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.
September 17: Constitution Day
-1862: Union forces hurled back a Confederate invasion of Maryland in the Civil War Battle of Antietam.
September 18
-1709: English poet and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, writer of the first English dictionary, was born.
-1779: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story was born.
-1819: French physicist Jean Foucault, inventor of the gyroscope, was born.
-1850: Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act allowing slave owners to reclaim slaves who escaped into another state.
-1905: Actress Greta Garbo was born.
-1920: Actor Jack Warden was born.
-1928: A hurricane that lashed Florida and the West Indies for five days left an estimated 4,000 people dead and $30 million in damage.
-1934: Robert Blake was born.
-1940: Singer/actor Frankie Avalon was born.
-1947: The National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect.
-1959: Former baseball player Ryne Sandberg was born.
-1971: Actress Jada Pinkett Smith was born.
-1975: FBI agents in San Francisco captured heiress Patricia Hearst and two of members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, William and Emily Harris.
-1983: British adventurer George Meegan finished a 19,021-mile, six-year walk from the tip of South America to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
-1990: The International Olympic Committee awarded the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta.
-1990: S&L scandal figure Charles Keating was arrested.
-1990: Winnie Mandela, wife of South African leader Nelson Mandela, was charged with assault and kidnapping in the 1988 abduction and murder of a 14-year-old boy by her chief bodyguard.
-1991: President Bush authorized U.S. warplanes to fly into Iraq to protect U.N. inspectors.
-1992: Congress approved a bill providing aid to hurricane-stricken areas of Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii and Guam.
-1994: A U.S. delegation headed by former President Carter persuaded Haiti's military leaders to step aside in favor of the democratically elected president after learning U.S. troops were en route to the Caribbean nation.
-1996: The shuttle Atlantis docked with the Mir space station to pick up U.S. astronaut Dr. Shannon Lucid, who'd set an American record for time spent in space. The doctors of Russian President Boris Yeltsin revealed he'd had a heart attack during his re-election campaign.
-1998: The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to release the videotape of President Clinton's grand-jury testimony, during which he denied lying about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky during a January deposition.
-1998: The Senate failed to overturn President Clinton's veto of a bill prohibiting a late-term abortion procedure.
September 19
-1865: Atlanta University was founded.
September 20
-1519: Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan began a voyage to find a western passage to the East Indies.
-1873: Financial chaos forced the New York Stock Exchange to close. It remained closed for 10 days.
-1886: Australian nurse Sister Elizabeth Kenny, who pioneered the care of polio victims, was born.
-1878: Novelist Upton Sinclair was born.
-1885: Jazz piano player Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was born.
-1917: Basketball Hall of Fame coach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was born.
-1924: Fashion designer James Galanos was born.
-1924: Actress Anne Meara was born.
-1928: Psychologist/author Dr. Joyce Brothers was born.
-1934: Actresses Sophia Loren was born.
-1957: Fran Drescher was born.
-1966: Britain's Queen Elizabeth launched the Cunard liner QE II.
-1967: Kristen Johnson was born.
-1984: Muslim terrorists bombed the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 23 people, including two Americans. It was the third terrorist attack on U.S. installations in Beirut in 17 months.
-1990: A military court convicted Nicu Ceausescu, 39, youngest son of executed former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, of murder.
-1991: The Cambodian government and three rebel factions agreed on a form of future U.N.-supervised elections.
-1992: French voters narrowly approved the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.
-1992: Four Dade County, Fla., circuit court judges went on trial in Miami on bribery and extortion charges in
"Operation Courtbroom," the FBI's biggest judicial sting in a decade.
-1993: Recommendations to close 130 domestic military bases and scale back 45 others became final when the Senate rejected a motion to overturn the decision.
-1993: Leaders of the three factions fighting in Bosnia broke off negotiations aboard a British aircraft carrier in the Adriatic Sea.
September 21
-1645: Louis Joliet, French-Canadian explorer of the Mississippi River, was born.
-1866: Author and historian H.G. Wells was born.
-1874: Composer Gustav Holst was born.
-1893: The first successful American-made, gasoline-operated motorcar appeared on the streets of Springfield, Mass. It was designed and built by Charles and Frank Duryea.
-1902: British publisher Sir Allen Lane, who first introduced the low-priced paperback book, was born.
-1931: Actor Larry Hagman was born.
-1935: Henry Gibson was born.
-1938: An estimated 600 people were killed by a hurricane that battered the coast of New England.
-1944: Comedian Fanny Flagg was born.
-1947: Author Stephen King was born.
-1950: Comedian Bill Murray was born.
-1957: Ethan Coen, one of the filmmaking Coen brothers, was born.
-1961: Actor Nancy Travis was born.
-1962: Rob Morrow ("Northern Exposure") was born.
-1968: Actress-turned-talk show host Ricki Lake was born.
-1977: President Carter defended budget director Bert Lance as he announced Lance's resignation. Lance had been accused of a series of illegal acts in banking.
-1991: Armenia became the 12th Soviet republic to declare independence.
-1993: Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended the parliament and announced parliamentary elections would be held in December.
-1996: John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the late U.S. president and described by tabloids as the world's most eligible bachelor, wed Carolyn Bessette.
-1998: President Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony, during which he admitted to an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was shown on television. It ran more than four hours.
-1998: Hurricane Georges began its deadly rampage through the Caribbean, killing more than 600 people.
-1999: At least 2,300 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Taiwan.
September 24
-1936: Jim Henson, puppeteer, was born in Mississippi.
September 25
-1690: Anniversary of the first US Newspaper
-1896: William (Cuthbert) Faulkner (born Falkner) in New Albany, Mississippi.
-1905: Sportswriter Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
-1930: Francine du Plessix-Gray was born in Warsaw, Poland.
-1932: Shel Silverstein was born in Chicago. .
-1968: Will Smith, actor, rap musician, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
September 26
1774: Johnny Appleseed was born.
-1874: Lewis Hine, photographer and social reformer, was born in Oshkosh, Wis.
-1888: T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot was born into a prominent Unitarian family in Saint Louis.
-1898: Composer George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York.
-1949: Jane Smiley was born in Los Angeles.
-1957: Ford Motor Company rolled out its first Edsel, considered by many to be the Ugly Duckling of the automotive world.
-1970: Guitarist Jimi Hendrix opened the Electric Lady recording studio in New York City.
-1985: Shamu's Birthday
-1996: The Chinese government started blocking access in China to websites it deemed unsuitable.
September 27
-1722: Patriot Samuel Adams was born.
-1825: In England, George Stephenson operated the first locomotive to pull a passenger train.
-1939: After 19 days of heavy air raids and artillery bombardment, the Polish defenders of Warsaw surrendered to the Germans.
-1840: Political cartoonist Thomas Nast was born.
-1885: Composer Joseph McCarthy ("You Made Me Love You") was born.
-1898: Vincent Youmans ("Tea for Two") was born.
-1922: Filmmaker Arthur Penn was born.
-1920: Actors William Conrad was born.
-1926: Jayne Meadows was born.
-1929: Sada Thompson was born.
-1934: Wilford Brimley was born.
-1924: Actor Greg Morris ("Mission: Impossible") was born.
-1954:"The Tonight Show" made its television debut with host Steve Allen.
-1958: Actor/singer Shaun Cassidy was born.
-1987: Mudslides in slum areas of Medellin, Colombia, killed up to 500 people.
-1991: President Bush announced the United States would unilaterally eliminate tactical nuclear weapons on land and at sea in Europe and Asia.
-1991: The PLO legislature voted to support U.S.- and Soviet-sponsored Middle East peace efforts.
-1992: The Inkatha party, rival to Nelson Mandela's ANC, withdrew from talks with the South African government after a meeting between Mandela and President de Klerk.
-1993: Newly elected Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, D-Texas, was indicted for using state workers, computers and supplies for her "personal benefit" during her Senate campaign.
-1993: In the wake of the Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas, the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Stephen Higgins, announced his resignation.
-1994: U.S. forces in Haiti took control of the parliament building and began paying Haitians to turn in weapons in order to reduce firepower on the streets.
-1996: Rebels seized control of Afghanistan from the previous rebel group that'd taken the country back from Moscow's control. The new rebels hanged Afghani leader Najibullah and his brother.
-1998: Hurricane Georges struck the Gulf Coast, spawning tornadoes and bringing heavy rains and flooding to parts of the South.
-1998: Gerhard Schroder led Germany's Social Democratic Party to victory in parliamentary elections, bringing to an end 16 years of power by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his Christian Democratic Party.
-1998: St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire set an all-time major-league season homerun record when he hit his 70th home run.
September 28
World Rabies Day
-1066: William the Conqueror of Normandy arrived on British soil. He defeated the British in the Battle of Hastings, and on Christmas day he was crowned King of England in Westminster Abby.
-1902: Ed Sullivan was born in Manhattan, New York City.
-1909: Cartoonist Al Capp was born Alfred Gerald Caplin in New Haven, Connecticut.
September 29
-1605: Spanish author of Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes was born near Madrid.
-1760: Novelist and travel writer William Beckford was born near Bath, England.
-1907: Gene Autry, one of the greatest country-western singers, was born in Tioga, Texas.
-1930: Author of the Inspector Morse mysteries, Colin Dexter was born in Lincolnshire, England.
September 30
-1906: Mystery writer Michael Innes was born John Innes Mackintosh Stewart near Edinburgh.
-1924: American writer Truman Capote was born in New Orleans.
-1927: Poet W.S. Merwin was born in New York City.
Back-to-school bulletin boards:
Cover a bulletin board with blue paper. Cut out letters to read "What Would You Do Today If You Were Brave?" Students write on it in colored gel pens. Related book covers could also be displayed on the bulletin board.
Cover a bulletin board with a red and white checked tablecloth. Cut out letters to read "This Year Will Be a Real Picnic!" Make large black ants out of construction paper and give them pipe-cleaner antenna and wiggle eyes. On each ant body write a student's name using gel pens so they show up on the black ant. Staple the ants to the border of the board. Write the subjects for the class (reading, spelling, handwriting, etc.) on white paper plates and staple them in the center of the tablecloth. Place a real picnic basket on the floor and fill it with several of books related to the subjects that will be studied or books about the first days of school.
Write a question on one side of a circle hanging from a string on a bulletin board. As students discover the answers to the questions, write the answers on the back of the circle. Some questions should have clear answers; others should not. some of the answers could be pictures. Other answers could be opinions. Encourage students to begin contributing their own wonderings. This could serve as a bank of questions for learning activities.
First Day of School
*Getting to know your classmates
Materials: two rolls of toilet paper (perforated, so it's easy to tear)
Activity time: 30 - 45 minutes
1. Have all the students sit at their desk, without talking.
2. Take out two rolls of TP and tell the students to "Take as much as you think you'll need." This provokes a lot of questions, but DO NOT say anything more. Send a roll around at both sides of the room (this helps the activity to move along more quickly).
3, Once all students have taken "what they need," collect the unused TP.
4. Now tell the students that for each square they ripped off, they have to give one fact about themselves. (M&Ms, jelly beans, Cheerios, etc. could be used instead of TP)
*Hand a clothesline somewhere in the classroom or outside in the hallway. Have students trace, cut out, and decorate paper t-shirts with objects and words about themselves, such as favorite foods, sports, activities, etc.
*Give students a license plate template and ask them to describe an important aspect of their character in eight or less letters and/or numbers. They can decorate their plates and then explain why their choice of letters or numbers fits them. Post the plates around the room or on a bulletin board.
A "welcome bag" for students (or teachers or parents):
* an apple (because each of you is the "apple of my eye")
*a bandage or Band-Aid(to remind you to heal hurt feelings in your friends and in yourself, I am here to help heal hurt feelings, for when things get a little rough)
*a Butterfinger (to remind you that we are all human and make mistakes)
*a button (reminds you to "button your lip" and don't tattletale)
*a chocolate kiss (to comfort you when you are feeling sad)
*a clothespin (to hang in there when things get tough)
*a cotton ball (to remind you that this room is full of kind words and warm feelings)
*an eraser (to remind you that everyone makes mistakes and that it is OK, we all makes mistakes and can fix them, those who never make mistakes never make anything, to use when you check over your work)
*a crayon (to color your day)
*a gold ribbon (to remind you that friendship ties our hearts together)
*a gold thread (friendship and respect are the golden threads that tie the hearts of each of us together)
*a happy face (reminds you to keep smiling, wear a smile everyday)
*a Hershey's Hug (for all the hard work you put into your work)
*Hugs & Kisses (to make everything worthwhile)
*a Life Saver (to remind you that you can come to me if you need someone to talk to)
*a marble (to replace those you lose from time to time)
*movable eyes (we should keep "an eye out" for each other)
*an orange (orange you glad you are in this class?)
*a paper clip (to help hold everything together when it seems to be falling apart)
*a pencil (to help you record the knowledge you have learn)
*a pencil grip (to get a grip on the task at hand)
*a penny ( to remind you that you are valuable and special, to shine and always try your best, for your thoughts in writers workshop)
*a pipe cleaner (we all have to be flexible and be willing to bend a little)
*a puzzle piece (without you, things wouldn't be complete)
*a rubber band (to remind you to hug someone, to help you stretch your imagination)
*a sequin (you are valuable)
*Smarties (you are all smart in different ways, to boost your test taking brain power)
*a sponge (to soak up the over-flow when you brain is too full)
*a star (keep shining and always try your best, you are a superstar, to remind you that you set a shining example)
*a sticker (to remind you that we will all stick together and help each other, we are a team and always stick together, to help you stick with the task at hand)
*thread (to remind us that friendship ties our hearts together)
*a tissue (to remind you to help dry someone's tears)
*a toothpick (to remind you to "pick out" the good qualities in your classmates and in yourself)
*wooden heart (you are safe and secure in our room)
Signs of Autumn lesson plan: http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/lessons/lesson.asp?ID=1800
"This is a culminating activity on the study of photosynthesis, how chlorophyll is important to leaves, and why leaves change colors in the fall."
Sept. 1
-1939: World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
September 2
1945: Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II.
September 3
Australian National Flag Day
-1926: The murder trial of gangster Lefty Lewis started in Cook County, IL.
-1992: The first PowerPC chips arrived at Apple Computer in Cupertino CA.
-1976: The unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the planet's surface.
September 4
-1957: Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.
September 6
-1533: England's Queen Elizabeth I was born.
-1822: Brazil declared independence from Portugal.
-1860: American primitive painter Anna "Grandma" Moses was born.
-1867: Financier J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. was born.
-1892: James Corbett knocked out John L. Sullivan in the 21st round of a prize fight at New Orleans, the first major fight under the Marquees of Queensberry Rules.
-1901: The Boxer Rebellion in China ended with the Boxer Protocol.
-1908: Heart surgeon Michael DeBakey was born.
-1909: Film director Elia Kazan was born.
-1914: Physicist and rocket developer James Van Allen was born.
-1923: Actor Peter Lawford was born.
-1924: Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii was born.
-1936: Rock 'n' roll pioneer Buddy Holly was born.
-1937: Actor John Philip Law ("The Russians Are Coming, The
Russians Are Coming") was born.
-1942: Richard Roundtree was born.
-1940: Nazi Germany launched the London blitz, a bombing that Adolf Hitler believed would soften Britain for invasion. The invasion never materialized.
-1950: Susan Blakey was born.
-1951: Julie Kavner ("The Simpsons") was born.
-1954: Corbin Bernsen ("L.A. Law") was born.
-1956: Musician Michael Feinstein was born.
-1986: Desmond Tutu was installed as the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, becoming first black titular head of South Africa's fourth-largest Christian church.
-1991: A European Community-sponsored Yugoslav peace conference opened in The Hague, Netherlands.
-1992: Black soldiers in the South African homeland of Ciskei killed 23 people and wounded nearly 200 when they fired on thousands of African National Congress supporters.
-1992: 12 people were killed when a twin-engine plane carrying skydivers crashed in a soybean field in Hinckley, Ill.
-1992: Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent quit, five days after the game's owners resoundingly voted to ask him to resign.
-1993: President Clinton and Vice President Gore announced a broad program to streamline the government.
-1993: South Africa's ruling National Party agreed to share power with a multi-party council that would be established within two months.
-1996: "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian assisted in a 40th suicide in Michigan.
-1999: Viacom, the world's largest cable network company, announced plans to buy CBS.
September 10
-1929: Arnold Palmer, pro golfer, was born in Latrobe, PA.
September 11
-1924: Tom Landry, football player and coach, was born in Mission, Texas.
September 12
-1913: Jesse Owens, track and field athlete, was born in Danville, AL.
-1977: South African black student leader Steven Biko died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.
September 13
-1916: Roald Dahl was born.
-1993: At the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
September 14:
-1959: The Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashed onto the lunar surface.
September 15
-1963: Four children were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at a black Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama.
September 16
-1974: President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.
September 17: Constitution Day
-1862: Union forces hurled back a Confederate invasion of Maryland in the Civil War Battle of Antietam.
September 18
-1709: English poet and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, writer of the first English dictionary, was born.
-1779: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story was born.
-1819: French physicist Jean Foucault, inventor of the gyroscope, was born.
-1850: Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act allowing slave owners to reclaim slaves who escaped into another state.
-1905: Actress Greta Garbo was born.
-1920: Actor Jack Warden was born.
-1928: A hurricane that lashed Florida and the West Indies for five days left an estimated 4,000 people dead and $30 million in damage.
-1934: Robert Blake was born.
-1940: Singer/actor Frankie Avalon was born.
-1947: The National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect.
-1959: Former baseball player Ryne Sandberg was born.
-1971: Actress Jada Pinkett Smith was born.
-1975: FBI agents in San Francisco captured heiress Patricia Hearst and two of members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, William and Emily Harris.
-1983: British adventurer George Meegan finished a 19,021-mile, six-year walk from the tip of South America to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
-1990: The International Olympic Committee awarded the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta.
-1990: S&L scandal figure Charles Keating was arrested.
-1990: Winnie Mandela, wife of South African leader Nelson Mandela, was charged with assault and kidnapping in the 1988 abduction and murder of a 14-year-old boy by her chief bodyguard.
-1991: President Bush authorized U.S. warplanes to fly into Iraq to protect U.N. inspectors.
-1992: Congress approved a bill providing aid to hurricane-stricken areas of Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii and Guam.
-1994: A U.S. delegation headed by former President Carter persuaded Haiti's military leaders to step aside in favor of the democratically elected president after learning U.S. troops were en route to the Caribbean nation.
-1996: The shuttle Atlantis docked with the Mir space station to pick up U.S. astronaut Dr. Shannon Lucid, who'd set an American record for time spent in space. The doctors of Russian President Boris Yeltsin revealed he'd had a heart attack during his re-election campaign.
-1998: The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to release the videotape of President Clinton's grand-jury testimony, during which he denied lying about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky during a January deposition.
-1998: The Senate failed to overturn President Clinton's veto of a bill prohibiting a late-term abortion procedure.
September 19
-1865: Atlanta University was founded.
September 20
-1519: Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan began a voyage to find a western passage to the East Indies.
-1873: Financial chaos forced the New York Stock Exchange to close. It remained closed for 10 days.
-1886: Australian nurse Sister Elizabeth Kenny, who pioneered the care of polio victims, was born.
-1878: Novelist Upton Sinclair was born.
-1885: Jazz piano player Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was born.
-1917: Basketball Hall of Fame coach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was born.
-1924: Fashion designer James Galanos was born.
-1924: Actress Anne Meara was born.
-1928: Psychologist/author Dr. Joyce Brothers was born.
-1934: Actresses Sophia Loren was born.
-1957: Fran Drescher was born.
-1966: Britain's Queen Elizabeth launched the Cunard liner QE II.
-1967: Kristen Johnson was born.
-1984: Muslim terrorists bombed the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 23 people, including two Americans. It was the third terrorist attack on U.S. installations in Beirut in 17 months.
-1990: A military court convicted Nicu Ceausescu, 39, youngest son of executed former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, of murder.
-1991: The Cambodian government and three rebel factions agreed on a form of future U.N.-supervised elections.
-1992: French voters narrowly approved the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.
-1992: Four Dade County, Fla., circuit court judges went on trial in Miami on bribery and extortion charges in
"Operation Courtbroom," the FBI's biggest judicial sting in a decade.
-1993: Recommendations to close 130 domestic military bases and scale back 45 others became final when the Senate rejected a motion to overturn the decision.
-1993: Leaders of the three factions fighting in Bosnia broke off negotiations aboard a British aircraft carrier in the Adriatic Sea.
September 21
-1645: Louis Joliet, French-Canadian explorer of the Mississippi River, was born.
-1866: Author and historian H.G. Wells was born.
-1874: Composer Gustav Holst was born.
-1893: The first successful American-made, gasoline-operated motorcar appeared on the streets of Springfield, Mass. It was designed and built by Charles and Frank Duryea.
-1902: British publisher Sir Allen Lane, who first introduced the low-priced paperback book, was born.
-1931: Actor Larry Hagman was born.
-1935: Henry Gibson was born.
-1938: An estimated 600 people were killed by a hurricane that battered the coast of New England.
-1944: Comedian Fanny Flagg was born.
-1947: Author Stephen King was born.
-1950: Comedian Bill Murray was born.
-1957: Ethan Coen, one of the filmmaking Coen brothers, was born.
-1961: Actor Nancy Travis was born.
-1962: Rob Morrow ("Northern Exposure") was born.
-1968: Actress-turned-talk show host Ricki Lake was born.
-1977: President Carter defended budget director Bert Lance as he announced Lance's resignation. Lance had been accused of a series of illegal acts in banking.
-1991: Armenia became the 12th Soviet republic to declare independence.
-1993: Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended the parliament and announced parliamentary elections would be held in December.
-1996: John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the late U.S. president and described by tabloids as the world's most eligible bachelor, wed Carolyn Bessette.
-1998: President Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony, during which he admitted to an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was shown on television. It ran more than four hours.
-1998: Hurricane Georges began its deadly rampage through the Caribbean, killing more than 600 people.
-1999: At least 2,300 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Taiwan.
September 24
-1936: Jim Henson, puppeteer, was born in Mississippi.
September 25
-1690: Anniversary of the first US Newspaper
-1896: William (Cuthbert) Faulkner (born Falkner) in New Albany, Mississippi.
-1905: Sportswriter Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
-1930: Francine du Plessix-Gray was born in Warsaw, Poland.
-1932: Shel Silverstein was born in Chicago. .
-1968: Will Smith, actor, rap musician, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
September 26
1774: Johnny Appleseed was born.
-1874: Lewis Hine, photographer and social reformer, was born in Oshkosh, Wis.
-1888: T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot was born into a prominent Unitarian family in Saint Louis.
-1898: Composer George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York.
-1949: Jane Smiley was born in Los Angeles.
-1957: Ford Motor Company rolled out its first Edsel, considered by many to be the Ugly Duckling of the automotive world.
-1970: Guitarist Jimi Hendrix opened the Electric Lady recording studio in New York City.
-1985: Shamu's Birthday
-1996: The Chinese government started blocking access in China to websites it deemed unsuitable.
September 27
-1722: Patriot Samuel Adams was born.
-1825: In England, George Stephenson operated the first locomotive to pull a passenger train.
-1939: After 19 days of heavy air raids and artillery bombardment, the Polish defenders of Warsaw surrendered to the Germans.
-1840: Political cartoonist Thomas Nast was born.
-1885: Composer Joseph McCarthy ("You Made Me Love You") was born.
-1898: Vincent Youmans ("Tea for Two") was born.
-1922: Filmmaker Arthur Penn was born.
-1920: Actors William Conrad was born.
-1926: Jayne Meadows was born.
-1929: Sada Thompson was born.
-1934: Wilford Brimley was born.
-1924: Actor Greg Morris ("Mission: Impossible") was born.
-1954:"The Tonight Show" made its television debut with host Steve Allen.
-1958: Actor/singer Shaun Cassidy was born.
-1987: Mudslides in slum areas of Medellin, Colombia, killed up to 500 people.
-1991: President Bush announced the United States would unilaterally eliminate tactical nuclear weapons on land and at sea in Europe and Asia.
-1991: The PLO legislature voted to support U.S.- and Soviet-sponsored Middle East peace efforts.
-1992: The Inkatha party, rival to Nelson Mandela's ANC, withdrew from talks with the South African government after a meeting between Mandela and President de Klerk.
-1993: Newly elected Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, D-Texas, was indicted for using state workers, computers and supplies for her "personal benefit" during her Senate campaign.
-1993: In the wake of the Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas, the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Stephen Higgins, announced his resignation.
-1994: U.S. forces in Haiti took control of the parliament building and began paying Haitians to turn in weapons in order to reduce firepower on the streets.
-1996: Rebels seized control of Afghanistan from the previous rebel group that'd taken the country back from Moscow's control. The new rebels hanged Afghani leader Najibullah and his brother.
-1998: Hurricane Georges struck the Gulf Coast, spawning tornadoes and bringing heavy rains and flooding to parts of the South.
-1998: Gerhard Schroder led Germany's Social Democratic Party to victory in parliamentary elections, bringing to an end 16 years of power by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his Christian Democratic Party.
-1998: St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire set an all-time major-league season homerun record when he hit his 70th home run.
September 28
World Rabies Day
-1066: William the Conqueror of Normandy arrived on British soil. He defeated the British in the Battle of Hastings, and on Christmas day he was crowned King of England in Westminster Abby.
-1902: Ed Sullivan was born in Manhattan, New York City.
-1909: Cartoonist Al Capp was born Alfred Gerald Caplin in New Haven, Connecticut.
September 29
-1605: Spanish author of Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes was born near Madrid.
-1760: Novelist and travel writer William Beckford was born near Bath, England.
-1907: Gene Autry, one of the greatest country-western singers, was born in Tioga, Texas.
-1930: Author of the Inspector Morse mysteries, Colin Dexter was born in Lincolnshire, England.
September 30
-1906: Mystery writer Michael Innes was born John Innes Mackintosh Stewart near Edinburgh.
-1924: American writer Truman Capote was born in New Orleans.
-1927: Poet W.S. Merwin was born in New York City.