Month: July 2022

The Walnut Street Theatre

The Walnut Street Theatre, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the oldest continuously-operating theater in America. Its first play was The Rivals in 1812, and it went on to host many pre-Broadway tryouts of soon-to-be classics—including Gigi with Audrey Hepburn and A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando. Technologically innovative, it was the first theater to install gas footlights and air conditioning. In 1976, what major non-theatrical event happened there? Discuss

British Columbia Joins Confederation of Canada (1871)

In the years leading up to British Columbia’s entrance into the Confederation of Canada, a series of gold rushes prompted financial crises in the region as well as fears that the US might attempt to annex the British colony. In 1871, British Columbia became the Confederation’s sixth province, strengthening Canada’s hand in international trade. In return, Canada assumed a large portion of the province’s debt. What is the meaning of British Columbia’s Latin motto, “Splendor sine occasu“? Discuss

Elijah Day

Considered to be among the greatest of prophets, Elijah is commemorated on this day in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. An Old Testament Jew who is revered by Jews and Muslims as well, Elijah’s story appears in the first book of Kings, with the final episode appearing in Second Kings, chapter two. The highpoint of Elijah’s ministry occurred when he called the priests who worshipped Baal, the pagan fertility god, to the top of Mount Carmel and challenged them to a contest that would prove who was the true God. Discuss

Carlos Santana (1947)

Santana is a Mexican-American Grammy Award-winning guitarist. He became famous in the 1960s with his eponymous band, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin music. The band’s sound features his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments—like timbales and congas—not generally heard in rock music. Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. What instrument did he play as a boy before switching to guitar? Discuss

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of food production—humans have been harvesting honey from bee colonies for thousands upon thousands of years. Beekeeping was particularly well developed in Egypt and is discussed by the Roman writers Virgil, Gaius Julius Hyginus, Varro, and Columella. Bees were traditionally kept for their honey, but today crop pollination often provides the greater part of a commercial beekeeper’s income. What are four useful hive products other than honey? Discuss

Women's Rights Convention Opens in Seneca Falls, NY (1848)

Organized by women’s rights advocates Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the two-day Seneca Falls Convention was the US’s first national women’s rights convention and is often cited as the birthplace of the American feminist movement. Adopted at the conference was a document modeled after the US Declaration of Independence that called for equal rights for women, including the right to vote and to work in traditionally male professions. What was this document called? Discuss

Lizzie Borden (1860)

Borden is best known for her suspected involvement in the brutal axe murders of her father and stepmother in 1892. The killings took place in the family home and were discovered by Borden—or so she claimed. The prime suspect, she was arrested and tried for the murders. Though she was ultimately acquitted, the public was unconvinced, and she was ostracized until her death. The case’s notoriety has endured in American pop culture and is still referenced today. What was the evidence against Borden? Discuss