Otis Ray Redding Jr. was born on September 9, 1941, in Dawson, Georgia. Despite his brief career, it’s been said that his marriage of traditional R&B with folk music in the 1960s took soul to a new level.
Singer Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. When she was 13, she was hospitalized for a throat infection and rheumatic fever, which she said gave her a “booming voice like Kate Smith.”
On September 7, 1813, a newspaper referred to the United States as “Uncle Sam.” The name reportedly came from Troy, New York’s Uncle Sam Wilson, and has since become one of America’s most enduring national symbols.
The First Battle of the Marne began on September 6, 1914. An important Allied victory, it was one of the most decisive battles in history and inaugurated the start of trench warfare that would last for much of the war.
On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It marked the first time the colonies gathered together to resist English oppression.
Singer Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. When she was 13, she was hospitalized for a throat infection and rheumatic fever, which she said gave her a “booming voice like Kate Smith.”
Lyricist Dorothy Fields was born on July 15, 1904, in Allenhurst, New Jersey. She wrote more than 400 songs for Broadway and film, including “The Way You Look Tonight” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”
The father of American musical comedy, George Michael Cohan was born on July 3, 1878, in Providence, Rhode Island. He later became so closely associated with patriotic music that many Americans believed he had been born on the Fourth of July, a story Cohan himself enjoyed encouraging.
Bandleader Benjamin David Goodman was born on May 30, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois. Also a renowned clarinetist, he’s considered the “King of Swing.”
On September 9, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. This act was a landmark piece of legislation that changed the way Americans thought about cars and driving.
On September 9, 1969, the US Post Office issued its first ever jumbo-sized commemorative stamp. Honoring the Moon landing, the stamp was produced in secret and wasn’t announced until a week before the Apollo 11 launch.
On September 9, 1850, California became America’s 31st state. The discovery of gold there two years earlier created a population boom that led to the need for a state government.
On September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared that the United Colonies would now be known as the United States.
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