1871: Stanley begins search for Livingstone: On this day in 1871, journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his famous search through Africa for the missing British explorer Dr. David Livingstone.
In the late 19th century, Europeans and Americans were deeply fascinated by the “Dark Continent” of Africa and its many mysteries. Few did more to increase Africa’s fame than Livingstone, one of England’s most intrepid explorers. In August 1865, he set out on a planned two-year expedition to find the source of the Nile River. Livingstone also wanted to help bring about the abolition of the slave trade, which was devastating Africa’s population.
Almost six years after his expedition began, little had been heard from Livingstone. James Gordon Bennett, Jr., editor of the New York Herald, decided to capitalize on the public’s craze for news of their hero. He sent Stanley to lead an expedition into the African wilderness to find Livingstone or bring back proof of his death. At age 28, Stanley had his own fascinating past. As a young orphan in Wales, he crossed the Atlantic on the crew of a merchant ship. He jumped ship in New Orleans and later served in the Civil War as both a Confederate and a Union soldier before beginning a career in journalism. More here
1932: Series of tornadoes hits Southeast U.S.: storm system arising in the Gulf of Mexico spawns a devastating series of tornadoes that kills more than 350 people across the Southeast over two days. Thousands were seriously injured and many were left homeless by this deadly rash of twisters.
The tornadoes began late on a Monday afternoon near the Mississippi and Alabama border. Warm air from the Gulf of Mexico collided with a cold front to the north, setting up perfect tornado conditions. The first twister touched down in Marion, Alabama, where 18 people were killed and 150 were injured at a large plantation farm. Next hit was Tuscaloosa–the Druid City Hospital there was inundated with victims. Moving northeast in Alabama, tornadoes caused such destruction in the town of Northport that it had to be sealed and National Guard troops called in. More here
1980: President Carter announces Olympic boycott: On this day in 1980, President Jimmy Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Moscow that summer. The announcement came after the Soviet Union failed to comply with Carter’s February 20, 1980, deadline to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. It marked the first and only time that the United States has boycotted the Olympics. More here
1997: In a Tel Aviv, Israel coffee shop, a suicide bomber kills 3 and injures 49: The attack occured on a Friday, on the eve of the Purim holiday, at around 13:40, when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated an explosive device which was concealed in a handbag in the entrence to the coffee shop “Apropo” in Tel Aviv. The force of the explosion killed three young women in their early 30s, one of them was three months pregnant. The attack remembered amongst the Israeli public, in part, due to a picture taken of a six months old infant girl in a clown costume whom survived the attack becuase she was saved by her mother whom protected her with her body from the force of the blast. More here
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