On This Day
1907 – The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
The United Procession of Women, or Mud March as it became known, was a peaceful demonstration in London on 9 February 1907 organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), in which more than three thousand women marched from Hyde Park Corner to the Strand in support of women’s suffrage. Women from all classes participated in what was the largest public demonstration supporting women’s suffrage seen up to that date. It acquired the name “Mud March” from the day’s weather, when incessant heavy rain left the marchers drenched and mud-spattered.
The proponents of women’s suffrage were divided between those who favoured constitutional methods and those who supported direct action. In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Known as the suffragettes, the WSPU held demonstrations, heckled politicians, and from 1905 saw several of its members imprisoned, gaining press attention and increased support from women. To maintain that momentum and create support for a new suffrage bill in the House of Commons, the NUWSS and other groups organised the Mud March to coincide with the opening of Parliament. The event attracted much public interest and broadly sympathetic press coverage, but when the bill was presented the following month, it was “talked out” without a vote.
While the march failed to influence the immediate parliamentary process, it had a considerable impact on public awareness and on the movement’s future tactics. Large peaceful public demonstrations, never previously attempted, became standard features of the suffrage campaign; on 21 June 1908 up to half a million people attended Women’s Sunday, a WSPU rally in Hyde Park. The marches showed that the fight for women’s suffrage had the support of women in every stratum of society, who despite their social differences were able to unite and work together for a common cause.
1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.[1]
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century.[1][2][3] This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the world’s largest city by then, where Islamic scholars and polymaths from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the known world’s classical knowledge into Syriac and Arabic.[4]
The period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258.[5] A few scholars date the end of the golden age around 1350 linking with the Timurid Renaissance,[6][7] while several modern historians and scholars place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries meeting with the Age of the Islamic Gunpowders.[1][2][3] (The medieval period of Islam is very similar if not the same, with one source defining it as 900–1300 CE.)[8]
Born On This Day
1854 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician and suffrage activist (d. 1929)[30]
Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs (Dutch pronunciation: [aːˈlɛtaː ɦɑ̃ːriˈɛtə ˈjaːkɔps]; 9 February 1854 – 10 August 1929) was a Dutch physician and women’s suffrage activist. As the first woman officially to attend a Dutch university, she became one of the first female physicians in the Netherlands. In 1882, she founded the world’s first birth control clinic and was a leader in both the Dutch and international women’s movements. She led campaigns aimed at deregulating prostitution, improving women’s working conditions, promoting peace and calling for women’s right to vote.
Born in the mid-nineteenth century, Jacobs yearned to become a doctor like her father. Despite existing barriers, she fought to gain entry to higher education and graduated in 1879 with the first doctorate in medicine earned by a woman in the Netherlands. Providing medical services to women and children, she grew concerned over the health of working women, recognizing that as laws did not provide adequate protection for their health, their economic stability was compromised. She opened a free clinic to educate poor women about hygiene and child care and in 1882 expanded her services to include distribution of contraception information and devices. Though she continued to practice medicine until 1903, Jacobs increasingly turned her attention to activism with a view to improving women’s lives.
From 1883, when Jacobs first challenged the authorities on women’s right to vote, she strove throughout her life to change laws that limited women’s access to equality. She was successful in her campaign to establish mandatory break laws in retail workers’ employment and in attaining the vote for Dutch women in 1919. Involved in the international women’s movement, Jacobs traveled throughout the world speaking about women’s issues and documenting the socio-economic and political status of women. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and an active participant in the peace movement. She is recognized internationally for her contributions to women’s rights and status.
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1846 – Ira Remsen, American chemist and academic (d. 1927)[9]
Ira Remsen (February 10, 1846 – March 4, 1927) was an American chemist who discovered the artificial sweetener saccharin along with Constantin Fahlberg. He was the second president of Johns Hopkins University.
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FYI
ProPublica: Colorado Homeowners: Do You Have Experience Dealing With an HOA? Help Us Investigate. HOAs can help keep common areas clean and pay for upkeep, but residents who fall behind on dues or run afoul of the rules can find themselves at risk of losing their home. And more ->
CNN: Dolly Parton’s theme park will soon pay for employees to go to college
James Clear: 3-2-1: Success, getting started, and the unnoticed good in the world
By Rocky Parker, Beyond Bylines: 32 Writing Prompts to Reignite Your Love for Writing
By Barbara Mantel, Association of Health Care Journalists: Two writers offer tips for setting up a local writers’ group
Rare Historical Photos: These vintage photos capture traveling circus performers in Northern Ireland, 1910-1911
KarmaTube: Hargila
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
Recipes
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Homemade on a Weeknight: Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Peppers
Ready Set Eat: Be recipe-ready for the Big Game and Valentine’s
Little House Big Alaska: Easy Oven BBQ Pork Chops
By cookwewill: Marinated Chicken Wings With Potatoes
Food Network: 70 Fan-Favorite Dinners That Are Perfect for Game Day Don’t be forced to throw a Hail Mary! With a little bit of planning and these crowd-pleasing main dishes, your Super Bowl party is guaranteed to be a success.
DamnDelicious
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