This Day in History – November 11, 2011

1620 41 pilgrims land in Massachusetts, sign Mayflower Compact (just & equal laws) 1647 Massachusetts passes 1st US compulsory school attendance law 1714 A highway in the Bronx is laid out, later renamed East 233rd Street 1831 In Jerusalem, Virginia, Nat Turner is hanged after inciting a violent slave uprising. 1839 The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia. 1864 Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground in preparation for his march south. 1865 Mary Edward Walker, 1st Army female surgeon, awarded Medal of Honor 1918 Armistice Day-WW I ends (at 11 AM on Western Front) 1921 President Harding dedicates Tomb of Unknown Soldier 1925 Louis Armstrong records 1st of Hot Five & Hot Seven recordings 1925 Robert Millikan announces discovery of cosmic rays 1931 Cornerstones laid for Opera House & Veterans Building 1933 “Great Black Blizzard” 1st great dust storm in the Great Plains 1939 Kate Smith 1st sings Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” 1968 John Lennon & Yoko Ono appear nude on cover of “2 Virgins” album 1969 Beatles with Billy Preston release “Get Back” in the UK 1969 Jim Morrison arrested on an airplane by the FBI for drunkenness 1983 President Reagan became 1st US President to address Japan’s legislature 1985 Challenger flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB 1987 Judge Anthony M Kennedy nominated to the Supreme Court 1987 Van Gogh’s “Irises” sells for record $53.6 M at auction 1988 Oldest known insect fossils (390 million years) reported in Science Magazine 2004 The Palestine Liberation Organization confirms the death of Yasser Arafat from unidentified causes. Mahmoud Abbas is elected chairman of the PLO minutes later.]]]]> ]]>