TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 2017. There are 135 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 18, 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born in present-day America, on what is now Roanoke Island in North Carolina. (However, the Roanoke colony ended up mysteriously disappearing.)
On this date:
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality, aimed at keeping the United States out of World War I.
In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing all American women’s right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.
In 1954, during the Eisenhower administration, Assistant Secretary of Labor James Ernest Wilkins became the first black official to attend a meeting of the president’s Cabinet as he sat in for Labor Secretary James P. Mitchell.
In 1963, James Meredith became the first black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
One year ago: Former NFL star Darren Sharper was sentenced by a federal judge in New Orleans to more than 18 years in prison for drugging women in order to rape them—double the sentence recommended by prosecutors. At the Rio Games, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt completed an unprecedented third consecutive sweep of the 100- and 200-meter sprints.
Today’s Birthdays: Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is 90. Movie director Roman Polanski is 84. Actor-director Robert Redford is 81. Actor-comedian Martin Mull is 74. Actor Denis Leary is 60. Actor Reg E. Cathey is 59. Actress Madeleine Stowe is 59. Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is 56. ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff is 56. The former president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, is 55. Rock singer and hip-hop artist Everlast is 48. Rapper Masta Killa (Wu-Tang Clan) is 48. Actor Christian Slater is 48. Actor Edward Norton is 48. Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is 47.
Thought for Today: “That is one of the bitter curses of poverty; it leaves no right to be generous.”— George Gissing, English author and critic (1857-1903).