Historic Anniversaries for the 2012-2013 School Year

May 23, 2012 by Danika Cooley | 6 Comments

Each summer, I plan out our upcoming school year.  Each school year, I’m taken by surprise … there are important historic anniversaries I’d like to observe with my kids, and I haven’t bothered to look them up.  I either  have to let them fall to the wayside, or scramble to fit them into our planned schedule.

For instance, this year we read Titanic: The Ship of Dreams by Robert Plant at the last minute.  It worked out just fine, but next year I want to be prepared.

Just in case you struggle with the same issue, I’m posting some interesting anniversaries occurring during the upcoming school year.  They may or may not be the dates you would pick, but I tried to hit the highlights of each year.  I put the sinking of the Titanic on because it’s still 100 years ago, right?  All the way until December…

History

• October 1962 – 50 years ago – Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1963 – 50 years ago – The Birmingham Campaign and Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested
• April 15, 1912 – 100 years ago – The Titanic sinks, killing 1,513
• January 1, 1863 – 150 years ago – The Emancipation Proclamation
• November 19, 1863 – 150 years ago – The Gettysburg Address
• Summer – Winter 1812 – 200 years ago – Napoleon Invades Russia, only 27,000 soldiers (out of 550,000) live
• 1763 – 250 years ago – End of the Seven Years’ War
• April 6, 1712 – 300 years ago – Slave Revolt in New York
• 1613 – 400 years ago – Samuel de Champlain explores the Ottawa River to Alumette Island
• September 20, 1413 – 500 years ago – Vasco Núñez de Balboa is the first European to see the Pacific Ocean
• April 2, 1413 – 500 years ago – Juan Ponce de León discovers Florida
• 212 – 1800 years ago – Every freeborn subject of the Roman Empire is awarded citizenship

Church History

• 1913 – 100 years ago – Harriet Tubman dies (b.1821)
• 1813 – 200 years ago – David Livingstone is born (d.1873)
• 1712 – 300 years ago – Last witchcraft execution in England
• 1612 – 400 years ago – Last burning of heretics in England
• 1563 – 45o years ago – John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs is published in England
• 1412 – 600 years ago – Joan of Arc is born (d.1431)
• 1212 – 8oo years ago – Children’s Crusade
• 863 – 1150 years ago – Cyril and Methodius begin missions to Moravia and invent the Cyrillic alphabet

Science

• 1663 – 350 years ago – Nicolaus Steno teaches that the heart is a muscle
• 1663 – 350 years ago – Isaac Newton discovers the binomial theorem
• 1512 – Copernicus publishes Commentariolus stating that the earth and planets revolve around the sun

Literature

• 1862 – 150 years ago – Publication of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
• 1812 – 200 years ago – Charles Dickens is born (d.1870)
• 1813 – 200 years ago – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin is published
• 1612 - 400 years ago – Shakespeare produces Henry VIII
• 1613 – 400 years ago – Fire destroys London’s Globe Theatre (Shakespeare)

Just Kinda Interesting

• 1863 – 150 years ago – Ebenezer Butterick invents the 1st paper dress patterns

What events do you plan to study next year?  Are there any historic anniversaries I should add to this list?

~ Danika Cooley

Danika Cooley is a freelance children’s writer with a love for God’s Word, history, wisdom and small people. Her work has appeared in magazines including Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr., Pockets, Devozine, Keys for Kids, and Cobblestone Group’s FACES and Odyssey and in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Mothers and Daughters.