By Michelle Dumas
This day marks the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920), granting women the right to vote. Ratification came in Tennessee, where Tennessee state legislator Harry T. Burn, age 24, cast the deciding vote after reading a letter from his mom, Febb Burn. “I know that a mother’s advice is always safest for a boy to follow,” he said, “and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.”
The country’s 26 million voting-age women were enfranchised by this change in the Constitution. Longtime suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt summed up her experiences in the battle this way: “Never in the history of politics has there been such a nefarious lobby as labored to block the ratification.” Upon ratification, Catt founded the League of Women Voters, an organization now dedicated to providing impartial, in-depth information about candidates, platforms, and ballot issues.
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, screenwriter, and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. McCarthy was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she has been featured multiple times in annual rankings of the highest-paid actresses in the world. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her #22 in its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.
McCarthy began appearing in television and film in the late 1990s and first gained recognition for her role as Sookie St. James on the television series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007). She played Dena on the ABC sitcom Samantha Who? (2007–2009) before starring as Molly Flynn on the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly (2010–2016), for which she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011. McCarthy’s appearances as a host on Saturday Night Live (2011–2017) led to a win for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2017.
McCarthy gained critical acclaim for her performance in the comedy film Bridesmaids (2011), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to star in several commercially successful comedies, including Identity Thief (2013), The Heat (2013), Tammy (2014), St. Vincent (2014), Spy (2015), and The Boss (2016). In 2018, McCarthy received critical acclaim for her portrayal of writer Lee Israel in the biographical film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has since starred in the drama miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers (2021) and played Ursula in the musical fantasy film The Little Mermaid (2023).
McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone are the founders of the production company On the Day Productions, under which they have collaborated on several comedy films including Life of the Party (2018), Super Intelligence (2020), and Thunder Force (2021). In 2015, she launched her own clothing line for plus-sized women, named Melissa McCarthy Seven7, and she received a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Frans Hals (painter) –
- Louis-Philippe of France –
- Celia Thaxter (poet) –
- Charles Lindbergh (aviator) –
- Ted Knight (actor) –
- Laura Branigan (Grammy-nominated pop singer best known for her hit Gloria) –
- Dominick Dunne (American writer and investigative journalist) –
- Neil Simon (Pulitzer prize-winning playwright) –
- Bob Barker (game show host and animal activist) –
Born
- Lee DeForest (inventor) –
- Frank F. Gasparro (designed the Lincoln Memorial reverse on the penny) –
- Mother Teresa (missionary) –
- Benjamin Bradlee (journalist) –
- Irving Levine (broadcast journalist) –
- Geraldine Ferraro (politician) –
- Will Shortz (puzzle creator and editor) –
- Branford Marsalis (musician) –
- Melissa McCarthy (actress) –
- Macaulay Culkin (actor) –
- Chris Pine (actor) –
- Keke Palmer (actress) –
Events
- Quincy Market opened, Boston, Massachusetts–
- Amistad captured off Long Island–
- Krakatoa, a volcano on an Indonesian island, began to erupt. Over this and the next day, the eruption caused tsunamis that killed 36,000 people. Particles from the eruption were released into the stratosphere, causing the average temperature of Earth to lower by one degree for the next two years.–
- Krakatoa, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Rakata, erupted. The explosions heard in the eruption remain the loudest noise on human record. The sound was heard across the Indian Ocean as far away as Rodriguez Island and Australia–
- A starch process that led to puffed grain cereals was patented–
- The Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, granting women the right to vote. It was nicknamed the Anthony amendment in recognition of the lobbying efforts of suffragette Susan B. Anthony.–
- Philo Farnsworth patented a television–
- WXBS televised the first major-league baseball games, a double-header between Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers–
- Norma Jeane Baker was signed to a contract with 20th Century Fox—her first studio contract–
- The first Ford Edsel was produced–
- The Beatles released their smash hit “Hey Jude” –
- Guitarist Jimi Hendrix made his last public appearance in the UK–
- Bill 101 took effect, making French the official language of Quebec–
Weather
- Tornado hit train on bridge in Dearborn County, Indiana–
- Snow flurries fell in Pennsylvania, New York, and New England–
- 100-mph winds, Lake County, Indiana–
- Stormy weather deposited a canoe in telephone lines in Lake County, Indiana–
- Lightning killed more than 300 reindeer in Hardangervidda, a mountain plateau and national park in Norway.–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
