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Today in History 03/25/17

Clock tower of Giacomo di Rialto in Venice, Italy (© David C. Tomlinson/Getty Images)(421) Venice, Italy founded at the stroke of noon
Legend has it that the northern Italian city of Venice is created precisely at 12 noon with the dedication of its first church, San Giocomo, on the islet of Rialto. Venice will eventually spread across 117 small islands.
Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 117 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by bridges. These are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, and artwork. The lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site.
Website: www.comune.venezia.it
Population: 264,579 (2014)
Area: 160.07 sq miles (414.57 km²)
Travel tip: Stunning architecture. Mysterious passageways. And of course, the canals. Venice is one of the most alluring cities in the world—the type of place where, as a visitor, you’ll @tripadvisor
Mayor: Luigi Brugnaro

wiki/Venice

For more things to do in Italy, including Venice, check out Jen’s Review

Drawing depicting slaves aboard a ship (© Rischgitz/Getty Images)(1807) British Empire ends its slave trade
Championed by religious groups and slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce, the Slave Trade Act becomes law in Great Britain and its colonies, ending the trading of slaves throughout the empire. It will be another 26 years before slavery itself will be abolished in the United Kingdom.
The Slave Trade Act 1807 or the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 25 March 1807, with the title of “An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade”. The original act is in the Parliamentary Archives. The act abolished the slave trade in the British Empire, in particular the Atlantic slave trade, and also encouraged British action to press other European states to abolish their slave trades, but it did not abolish slavery itself. Many of the Bill’s supporters thought the Act would lead to the death of slavery, but it was not until 26 years later that slavery itself was actually abolished. Slavery on English soil was unsupported in English law and that position was confirmed in Somersett’s Case in 1772, but it remained legal in most of the British Empire until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807
Firefighters at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York on March 25, 1911 (© New York Public Library/Getty Images)(1911) Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire kills 146
A Manhattan garment sweatshop is the scene of a horrific, and avoidable, tragedy as crowded conditions and an almost total lack of safety measures lead to the deaths of 146 workers after a fire breaks out. Legislation requiring factory safety standards will follow, as will sweatshop workers unions.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911 was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in US history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – 123 women and 23 men – who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged 16 to 23; of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was Providenza Panno at 43, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and “Sara” Rosaria Maltese.
Date: Mar 25, 1911
Fatalities: 146

wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire
Allen Ginsberg circa 1957 (© CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)(1957) US Customs Office seizes ‘Howl’
As 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem ‘Howl’ arrive in the US from a London publisher, customs officials seize the books on charges of obscenity. Ginsberg and his publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, will fight those charges and win, the trial a publicity bonanza for ‘Howl’ and the cause of free speech.
“Howl” is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955, published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems, and dedicated to Carl Solomon. Ginsberg began work on “Howl” as early as 1954. In the Paul Blackburn Tape Archive at the University of California, San Diego, Ginsberg can be heard reading early drafts of his poem to his fellow writing associates. “Howl” is considered to be one of the great works of American literature. It came to be associated with the group of writers known as the Beat Generation.
Author: Allen Ginsberg
Written: 1955
Movements: Beat Generation
Original language: English

wiki/Howl
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A Historical Day

(421) Venice, Italy founded at the stroke of noon
421 Legend has it that the northern Italian city of Venice is created precisely at 12 noon with the dedication of its first church, San Giocomo, on the islet of Rialto. Venice will eventually spread across 117 small islands..
(1807) British Empire ends its slave trade
Championed by religious groups and slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce, the Slave Trade Act becomes law in Great Britain and its colonies, ending the trading of slaves throughout the empire. It will be another 26 years before slavery itself will be abolished in the United Kingdom.. 1807
(1911) Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire kills 146
1911 A Manhattan garment sweatshop is the scene of a horrific, and avoidable, tragedy as crowded conditions and an almost total lack of safety measures lead to the deaths of 146 workers after a fire breaks out. Legislation requiring factory safety standards will follow, as will sweatshop workers unions..
(1957) US Customs Office seizes ‘Howl’
As 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem ‘Howl’ arrive in the US from a London publisher, customs officials seize the books on charges of obscenity. Ginsberg and his publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, will fight those charges and win, the trial a publicity bonanza for ‘Howl’ and the cause of free speech.. 1957