Jun 032024
 
Velocipede

Velocipede, First Bicycle

World Bicycle Day is today. In early 2018 the United Nations declared today to be World Bicycle Day because bicycles are so popular for transportation and physical activity. In 2014 a billion bicycles were being used for business and fun. China accounts for 450 million of those bicycles.

Jun 032024
 

New York Knickerbockers in 1851 became the first baseball team to wear uniforms. The uniform consisted of full-length blue pants, white shirts, and straw hats. The team players were also very involved in defining baseball’s rules and codes of conduct.

Casey at the Bat was printed for the first time in 1888 in the San Francisco Examiner. Although it was published anonymously, the author was Ernest L. Thayer. Children can read a copy of the poem at: Casey.

Jun 032024
 

First American Space Walk

Major Edward H. White conducted the first American walk in space in 1965. White and his fellow astronaut, Major James McDivitt, orbited earth 66 times in Gemini 4. White’s walk lasted about twenty minutes. He was tethered to the space capsule, and he used a maneuvering device in his right hand to take him where he needed to be. Children could learn more at: Space Walk.

Jun 042024
 
Silhouette of Jack Jouett - only known image

Silhouette of Jack Jouett – only known image

Jack Jouett became a hero on the night of June 3 into June 4, 1781. Jouett overheard British plans to capture Thomas Jefferson and others. Jouett understood how important the group was yet how vulnerable they were. He rode 45 miles through rough and tough Virginia countryside to warn Thomas Jefferson and members of the legislature that the British were coming. When the British arrived in Charlottesville, the Americans had escaped. Jouett has been called the “Paul Revere of the South.” Children could read Jack Jouett of Albemarle: The Paul Revere of the South by Jennie Thornley Grayson.