On August 26, 1839, the U.S. Navy brig Washington captured the Spanish schooner La Amistad on the Long Island coast and claimed salvage rights over the vessel and its human cargo. The Africans aboard, the recently kidnapped Mende people from Sierra Leone, had revolted after about three days of sailing. They murdered the captain and cook and commanded the crew to sail them back home. For weeks the Spaniards fooled the Africans by changing the points of the compass and taking the vessel north, all while keeping them unaware of this. Ultimately, they were freed when the brig Washington seized the schooner in U.S. waters. The Africans were imprisoned in Connecticut and their legal fight brought to light contradictions between U.S. law, international treaties and the institution of slavery. Despite pressure from the Van Buren administration to return them to Cuba, U.S. District and Circuit Courts ruled in favor of the Africans. In 1841 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they were free because they had been illegally kidnapped. When the survivors received support from abolitionists, they returned to Sierra Leone in 1842.
Image: Depiction of the schooner La Amistad near Culloden Point, Long Island, New York, on August 26, 1839, with the U.S. Navy’s USS Washington visible to the left via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
An outbound car at Cedar Grove station in Boston when a “high-speed line” from Ashmont to Milton opened on August 26, 1929.
Image from Boston Transit Department via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
The 19th Amendment was certified on August 26, 1920. The amendment prohibits states or the U.S. Government from denying the right to vote on the account of sex.
Image: Women Voters via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
A marker for the Second Defense of St. Michaels, August 26, 1813, when Maryland militia under General Perry Benson repelled a British force nearly three times their size. The brief but decisive stand preserved the town’s shipyards and became a symbol of local resilience during the War of 1812.
Image from TwoScarsUp via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
On August 26, 1817
the Catholepistemiad Michigania (later called The University of Michigan) was founded in Detroit, Michigan.
Image: A telescope 95 years later at The University of Michigan in 1912
On August 26, 1791, American inventor John Fitch received a federal patent for his steamboat.
There is a portion of a highway in Connecticut that became a boulevard that is named in his honor.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Train derailed by Confederate cavalry on August 26, 1862 during the Battle of Manassas Station Operations
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On August 26, 1873:
The first public kindergarten in the United States was commissioned by the school board of St. Louis, MO.
The school officially opened later that September and was started by Susan Elizabeth Blow.
Photo of Susan Blow “Mother of Kindergarten”
Public Domain in the United States
Arrival of President at Hammersmith Farm. President Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Hugh D. Auchincloss, Assistant Press Secretary Andrew Hatcher, aides, others. Newport, RI, Hammersmith Farm.
August 26, 1962
A member of the U.S. military paints victory markings on a Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless, representing multiple Japanese aircraft that were shot down in attacks on the Solomon Islands
August 26, 1942
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Last Word
Here I sit with eighty years
Buried somewhere in my bones.
I can only see the world
Move along in monotones.
All the peril of the sun
And the laughter too are done.
(Hear the fools there in the passage
Talk of larger vision won!)
Grace o’ God, can they not see
That the wisdom comes too late?
Oh, my heart is bitter full
Of reflections delicate
On the beauty that is truth,
On the art that saves, forsooth.
(Hear the fools there in the passage
Mourn the blindness of their youth!)
I have lived the utter life,
Loved the color, loved the word,
Let no light die unresisting,
Let no far flute fail unheard.
All my days and nights are lit
With a secret exquisite
(Hear the little voice come calling
All the weary pain of it!)
Little voice that used to laugh,
Little voice that used to sing—
Somewhere in those eighty years—
Lullaby and love-longing.
I must listen, I must weep
For the voice I could not keep.
(Oh, the silence of the darkness
Where was breath of her asleep!)
Here they come to bring me praise,
Here they come, there they go,
Lauding loud the work I’ve done,
Books a-many in a row.
And they envy me and sigh,
And they think those books are I.
Fools there, with some heart to love you,
Pass the larger wisdom by!
by American writer Zona Gale
Zona Gale was born on August 26, 1874 in Portage, Wisconsin.
She was the first female to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Image via NYPL Digital Collections, no known restrictions
Born August 26, 1918 Katherine Johnson, shown in 1966, was a vital member of the teams responsible for NASA’s crewed space flights. Her contributions were detailed in the 2019 film Hidden Figures. Ms. Johnson was the recipient of The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and NASA’s Silver Snoopy Award.
Image from NASA via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US.
American inventor Lee de Forest was born on August 26, 1873 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
One of his inventions in 1919 was a process of recording sound on film. Sound waves were captured onto film material as linear traces which could be amplified.
Image: Lee de Forest seated with one of his inventions via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On August 26, 1913, a dedication ceremony was held in Keokuk, Iowa to celebrate the opening of the Keokuk hydroelectric Dam on the Mississippi River. Governors from the Iowa and Illinois and officials from other states were in attendance.
Image of the Keokuk-Hamilton Dam in 1914 via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions
Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910
Quote: “I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?”
Now Saint (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta became an honorary citizen of The United States in 1996
Image via Alamy
Mount Washington, a peak in the Cascade Range with an elevation of nearly 7,800 feet in Oregon was first ascended by six boys from nearby Bend, OR on August 26, 1923.
Image by Jordan W. via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 3.0
Warner Bros.’s heartfelt crime drama “The Angels Wash Their Faces” debuted on August 26, 1939 just days prior to World War II redecimating the world. The film focuses on the Dead End Kids, a group of young New York actors known for depicting the real experiences of street children during the Great Depression. Following the false accusation of a crime by a friend, the Dead End Kids, alongside Deputy District Attorney Patrick Remson (Ronald Reagan) and his persistent sister Joy Ryan (Ann Sheridan), join forces in an attempt to exonerate him. They cleverly exploit Billy declared honorary mayor during a charity Boys’ Week event – using their street smarts to uncover the real culprits. The film carries a biting political satirical edge but retains its serious focus on bringing accountability. It captures the New Deal–era hope that even the most marginalized voices in society can hold back corruption and bring about reform.
Image via Alamy
