January: This Month in History
As my boys grow older, their interest in history and current events is growing. With a little help from the History Channel, I’ve compiled a list of major (and obscure) historical events that happened this month in history. Each morning we talk about what happened this day in history. It’s been a fun way to discuss current events, history and social studies with my boys. Here is my list for January. You can easily create your own. Enjoy.
- January 1: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
- January 2: Georgia votes to ratify the U.S. Constitution, becoming the fourth state in the United States (1788)
- January 3: King Tut’s sarcophagus is uncovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter (1924)
- January 4: Dr. William W. Grand of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is thought to be the first appendectomy in the U.S. (1885)
- January 5: Construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California (1933)
- January 6: Samuel Morse demonstrates the telegraph (1838)
- January 7: The impeachment trail of President William Clinton began in the Senate (1999)
- January 8: President George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address (1790)
- January 9: The Russian Revolution of 1905 was sparked by troops firing on petitioners to Czar Nicholas in St Petersburg (1905)
- January 10: The first underground passenger railway, the Metropolitan, opened in London (1863)
- January 11: The first government report regarding the dangers of cigarette smoking was issued by the U.S. Surgeon General, Luther Terry (1964)
- January 12: Batman debuts on TV (1966)
- January 13: Michael Jordan announced his second retirement from the NBA. He would “unretire” again in 2001 (1999)
- January 14: The Continental Congress ratifies the Second Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence (1784)
- January 15: Elizabeth Tutor was crowned as Elizabeth I in Westminster Abbey (1559)
- January 16: The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages, when into effect (1920)
- January 17: Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston (1706)
- January 18: British explorer Robert Scott arrives at the South Pole only to discover that Roald Amundsen had already been there (1912)
- January 19: The electric neon sign was patented in the US by George Claude of Paris, France (1915)
- January 20: President Barack Obama was sworn into office, becoming the first African-American U.S. President (2009)
- January 21: King Louis XVI of France was guillotined for treason (1793)
- January 22: Queen Victoria of England died after reigning for 63 years (1901)
- January 23: The deadliest earthquake in history killed 830,000 in Shansi, China (1556)
- January 23 BONUS: Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. (1849)
- January 24: Gold is discovered at Sutter’s Creek, triggering the California gold rush (1848)
- January 25: The world’s largest diamond was discovered in South Africa (1905)
- January 26: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway (1988)
- January 27: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria (1756)
- January 28: The space shuttle Challenger explodes 72 seconds after liftoff, killing the 7 crew members, including teacher Christa McAuliff (1986)
- January 29: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven was published (1845)
- January 30: King Charles I of England was beheaded (1649)
- January 31: The first U.S. earth satellite, Explorer I, was launched (1958)
Sources: History.com and FactMonster.com
