1776

Today in History 08/27 (Renée Richards)

Renee Richards during a match at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange, NJ, on Aug 26, 1976 (© Manny Millan/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)(1976) Tennis bars a transgender pioneer from competition
Nine months after her sex-reassignment surgery, Dr. Renée Richards refuses to take a chromosome test mandated by tennis authorities and is banned from playing in the US Open. A court order will later admit Richards to 1977’s tournament.
Renée Richards is an American ophthalmologist and former tennis player who had some success on the professional circuit in the 1970s, and became widely known following male-to-female sex reassignment surgery, when she fought to compete as a woman in the 1976 US Open.
Born: Aug 19, 1934 (age 84) · New York, NY
Height: 6′ 1″
Turned pro: 1977
Nationality: American
Children: Nicholas Raskind (Son)
Parents: David Raskind (Father)

the semis, against Lea Antonopolis
When Richards’ run in New Jersey came to an end in the semis, against Lea Antonopolis, she thought she would repeat her breakthrough at the US Open. After all, that loss proved a woman could beat her.
wiki/Renée_Richards
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(1976) Tennis bars a transgender pioneer from competition.
Also on this day,

1776 | Washington loses to Howe in Brooklyn Heights
Less than two months a nation, the United States fights the largest Revolutionary War battle yet when George Washington and his 10,000 Continental Army troops battle General William Howe’s 20,000-strong British force at Gowanus Pass in Brooklyn Heights to control New York City’s strategic port.
1883 | A Dutch East Indies island volcano blows its top
Dormant for 200 years, the volcanic island of Krakatoa began erupting yesterday, and today explodes with the loudest sounds in recorded history, destroying two-thirds of the island, causing more than 36,000 deaths, and generating multiple tsunamis, green moonlight, and a weather-altering volcanic winter.
1955 | Amazing accomplishments and freaky facts get their tome in Guinness Records
Inspired by an argument over whether the red grouse or golden plover flies faster, the marketing director at Guinness Breweries and fact-finding colleagues compile a reference book to answer such weird and wonderful questions, and the first ‘Guinness Book of Records’ is published.

Today in History 08/27/17

Painting of the Delaware Regiment at the Battle of Long Island in 1776 (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)(1776) Washington loses to Howe in Brooklyn Heights
Less than two months a nation, the United States fights the largest Revolutionary War battle yet when George Washington and his 10,000 Continental Army troops battle General William Howe's 20,000-strong British force at Gowanus Pass in Brooklyn Heights to control New York City's strategic port.
The Battle of Long Island is also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. It was fought on August 27, 1776 and was the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776. It was a victory for the British Army and the beginning of a successful campaign that gave them control of the strategically important city of New York. In terms of troop deployment and fighting, it was the largest battle of the entire war.
Date: Aug 27, 1776
Brooklyn Map 1766
American strategy called for the first line of defense to be based on the Heights of Guan, a series of hills which stretched northeast across King's County. The main defensive works were a series of forts and entrenchments located in the northwest of the county, in and around the Dutch-founded town of Brookland. The "Road to Narrows" is the Gowanus Road. No. 5 is the "Old Stone House". Map by Bernard Ratzer based on his 1766-1767 survey.

wiki/Battle_of_Long_Island
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Today in History 07/04 (Independence Day)

Painting of the 'Committee of Five' of the Second Continental Congress presenting the Declaration of Independence to Congress in July 1776 (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1776) Thirteen colonies make a break from Britain
The 13 American colonies throw off British rule as Philadelphia’s Continental Congress announces a new nation made up of united states. The anniversary of this Declaration of Independence, ratified one year into the Revolutionary War, will continue to be celebrated in the US as Independence Day.
The United States Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The Declaration announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain would regard themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America. The declaration was signed by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Authors: Thomas Jefferson · John Adams · Robert R. Livingston · Roger Sherman · Benjamin Franklin
First published: Jul 1776

United States Declaration of Independence
This is a high-resolution image of the United States Declaration of Independence (article – text). This image is a version of the 1823 William Stone facsimile — Stone may well have used a wet pressing process (that removed ink from the original document onto a contact sheet for the purpose of making the engraving).
wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
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(1776) Thirteen colonies make a break from Britain.
Also on this day,

1054 | Astronomers spot the brilliant burst of a dying star
Chinese astronomers spot a “guest star” in the sky, so brilliant it can be seen in the daytime. It will remain visible for some two years, be observed in Asian, Arab, and possibly American lands, and later be identified as the SN 1054 supernova that births the Crab Nebula pulsar.
1862 | Boredom while boating hatches a fantastic fable ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Alice Liddell, 10, asks Charles Dodgson to tell her a story while they’re boating near Oxford, England. He weaves a tale of a bored little girl who suddenly finds herself down a rabbit hole. Dodgson will later publish ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ under his pen name, Lewis Carroll.
1976 | A courageous commando raid on Entebbe rescues hijacked hostages
A plane departing Tel Aviv is hijacked and lands in Uganda, where Palestinian terrorists threaten to kill passengers unless demands are met. Under cover of darkness, Israeli commandos rush the airport and rescue most of the hostages in a 90-minute lightning raid, Operation Entebbe.