Check out This Day in History for Nov. 10, in MainStream’s daily look at significant progressive, intersectional historical events.
1898: In what’s considered the only coup in American history, a mob of white supremacists in Wilmington, N.C., attacks a Black-owned printing press, kills 60 Black residents, overtakes city government and terrorizes residents for months. Known as the North Carolina Coup D’état or the Wilmington Massacre, the coup was falsely publicized as a Black riot for at least five decades.
Above, Andrew T. Hatcher, the first-ever presidential press secretary; World Science Day for Peace and Development; Mary Anderson, windshield wiper inventor; “Sesame Street;” and Walt Disney, FBI informant.
1903: Mary Anderson files the first patent for what will become windshield wipers, but finds no inventors to fund her creation, which required manual involvement. More than 60 years later, Robert Kearns will receive a patent for intermittent windshield wipers, a patent that is challenged repeatedly because his designs were based on so many others’.
1911: Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie forms the Carnegie Corporation, which goes on to provide $56 million to build 2,509 public libraries worldwide, including 1,681 in the United States. The corporation’s modern-day focus is to provide grants to support education, democracy, international peace and security, and higher education and research in Africa.
1917: In what will be known as the “Silent Sentinels” protests, 41 women from 16 states picket the White House and will eventually be arrested, jailed, beaten, and force-fed when they attempt a hunger strike.
1940: Walt Disney, founder of the beloved animators’ studio, officially signs on as an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), providing information to aid the agency’s effort to find Communists. Disney would go on to receive the title of “Special Agent in Charge Contact” in 1954.
1960: Andrew T. Hatcher makes history as the first-ever Black associate press secretary to a president, when he takes the post under John F. Kennedy. Hatcher would go on to help found One Hundred Black Men of New York, a nonprofit in New York City to address social injustice.
1969: The ground-breaking “education with puppets” series “Sesame Street“ premieres. A 2019 study showed kids who watched the show before age 7 do better in school. Created by documentarian Joan Ganz Cooney and puppeteer Jim Henson, “Sesame Street” still can be seen on on PBS.
2001: World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated for the first time, created by the International Council for Science (ICSU).
2023: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) announces he will not run for re-election, a decision that ends up turning his seat over to Republican Jim Justice, who defeats Manchin endorsee Glenn Elliott in November 2024. The change in West Virginia is among four states where seats flpped from Democrat to Republican, giving the Senate a 53-47 edge in the Senate.
Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons
