By Eunice Charles
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman (/zɛnˈdeɪ.ə/ ⓘ zen-DAY-ə; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In 2022, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Born and raised in Oakland, California, Zendaya began her career as a child model and backup dancer. She made her television debut as Rocky Blue in the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up (2010–2013) and starred as K.C. in the channel’s sitcom K.C. Undercover (2015–2018). Her feature film debut came as MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017); she later reprised her role in its sequels Far from Home (2019) and No Way Home (2021). Zendaya’s performance as Rue Bennett, a struggling drug-addicted teenager in the HBO teen drama series Euphoria (2019–present) made her the youngest recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, which she won twice. Her other film roles include the musical The Greatest Showman (2017), the romantic dramas Malcolm & Marie (2021) and Challengers (2024), and Chani in the science fiction films Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024).
In 2011, Zendaya released the singles “Swag It Out” and “Watch Me“, the latter a collaboration with Bella Thorne. She signed with Hollywood Records in 2012, and released her first studio album Zendaya in 2013, to moderate success. The album’s lead single, “Replay“, reached the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Her Zac Efron collaboration, “Rewrite the Stars“, from The Greatest Showman soundtrack (2017), reached the top 20 of several record charts and has received multi-platinum sales certifications globally. She has also written and performed several songs for Euphoria.
Born to teachers Claire Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu Coleman. Her father is African-American, with DNA testing showing Nigerian ancestry; her mother has German and Scottish ancestry. Zendaya, whose name derives from the Shona name Tendai (meaning ‘to give thanks‘), has six older half-siblings, from her father’s previous relationships: one from a first wife, and five from a second wife.
Zendaya owns a home in Los Angeles and a condo in Brooklyn. She is a vegetarian, saying, “My main reason for being a vegetarian is that I’m an animal lover—definitely not because I love vegetables”. She first publicly acknowledged her relationship with British actor and Spider-Man co-star Tom Holland in November 2021. The couple moved into a £3m home in London together in 2023. They became engaged in December 2024.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
“Harvest Home” (September 1 to 30) is an old tradition that some U.S. regions keep alive (e.g., the Pennsylvania Dutch, some New England towns). In Britain and other parts of Europe, this marked the conclusion of the main harvest and a period of festivals for feasting and thanksgiving.
It was also a time to hold elections, pay workers, and collect rents. These festivals usually took place around the autumnal equinox. It was also a time for family members and workers to return to their towns for festivities.
Even today, notice that elections and Thanksgiving feasts are held in the fall! This is a continuation from long-ago traditions.
Always the first Monday in September, Labor Day is meant as a tribute to the American worker to whom the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country is made possible.
The holiday started modestly in cities and towns, with the first celebration on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, held by the Central Labor Union. GIven the growth of labor organizations at this time in American history and the era of industrialization, the idea of a day to honor the American worker quickly spread to other cities and then to states.
In 1884, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday. The observance of Labor Day began as a street parade to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of the community, followed by a relaxing day for the workers and their families.
There is some doubt as to the individual who first proposed the holiday for workers. Most believe it was the idea of Peter J. Maguire (although recent research has shown that it might have been his brother Matthew’s idea), a labor union leader who in 1882 proposed a celebration honoring the American worker. The date chosen was simply “convenient,” according to Maguire, because it was midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.
Although the day’s focus on organized labor has diminished over the years, the legal holiday still marks the end of summer and the traditional time for children to return to school.
September comes from the Latin word septem, meaning “seven,” because it was the seventh month of the early Roman calendar.
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Jacques Cartier (explorer) –
- Louis XIV, King of France –
- Nellie McClung (Canadian activist) –
- Ethel Waters (singer) –
- Martin Kamen (co-discovered the radioactive isotope carbo-14) –
- Dean Jones (actor ) –
- Jimmy Buffet (singer) –
Born
- Chester Harding (painter) –
- James Gordon Bennet (founder of New York Herald) –
- Engelbert Humperdinck (composer) –
- James J. Corbett (boxer) –
- Edgar Rice Burroughs (writer; Tarzan author) –
- Francis William Aston (chemist, discovered isotopes) –
- Don Wilson (entertainer) –
- Rocky Marciano (boxer) –
- Conway Twitty (country music singer) –
- Seiji Ozawa (orchestra conductor) –
- Lily Tomlin (actress) –
- Leonard Slatkin (conductor) –
- Barry Gibb (singer, member of the Bee Gees) –
- Gloria Estefan (musician) –
- J. D. Fortune (singer) –
- Scott Speedman (actor) –
- Zendaya (actress and singer) –
Events
- Deborah Read Rogers became the common-law wife of Ben Franklin –
- Narcissa Whitman, one of the first white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrived at Walla Walla, Washington –
- At a convention of nondrinkers in Chicago the Prohibition Party is born –
- The first woman, Miss Emma Nutt, was hired by the Telephone Dispatch Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Before Miss Nutt’s employment, young men served as operators, but their rudeness to telephone subscribers caused the company owners to replace them with women –
- Saskatchewan became a province of Canada –
- Alberta became a province of Canada –
- The last passenger pigeon, Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden in Ohio –
- Sundance Fire intensified, Idaho –
- Bobby Fischer became the first American to hold the world chess title by defeating Soviet player, Boris Spassky –
- Remains of the R.M.S. Titanic luxury liner discovered 12,400’ deep, 230 miles south of Nova Scotia –
- A 23-inch Arctic grayling was caught in Wolf Lake, Manitoba –
Weather
- A trace of snow fell at Long Falls Dam in Maine –
- Mount Washington in New Hampshire received about one-half inch of snow –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
