Good News in History, July 6

67 years ago today, Althea Gibson won her first Wimbledon Women’s Singles title, becoming the first African American to do so. The 1957 season was as a whole, and in her own words, “Althea Gibson’s year”. Earlier, Gibson was seeded first at Wimbledon on the back of a 1956 performance that included the French Open Women’s Singles and Doubles titles and the Italian Championships. READ what she said when the Queen handed her the trophy… (1957)

Defeating Darlene Hard in the finals for the singles title, she became the first Black champion in the tournament’s 80-year history, and the first champion to receive the trophy personally from Queen Elizabeth II. “Shaking hands with the Queen of England”, she said, “was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus.”

Upon her return home Gibson became only the second Black American, after Jesse Owens, to be honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City, and Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. presented her with the Bronze Medallion, the city’s highest civilian award.

MORE Good News on this Day:

• Pope Clement VI issued a Catholic decree protecting Jews during the Black Death and urged clergymen to take action to protect the innocent as popular opinion blamed Jews for the plague, and massacres erupted throughout Europe (1348)
• Louis Pasteur, the French chemist-microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, fermentation, and pasteurization, successfully tested his breakthrough rabies vaccine on a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog (1885)
• ‘Uncle Sam’ (initials U.S.) was first depicted as an elderly man with white hair and goatee, wearing a top hat and red-and-white-striped trousers by James Montgomery Flagg publicly for the first time on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly magazine with the caption “What Are You Doing for Preparedness?”—and between 1917-1918, more than four million copies of this image were printed (1916)
• Althea Gibson won a Wimbledon championship, the first black athlete to do so (1957)
• Garrison Keillor’s weekly LIVE radio show A Prairie Home Companion first aired from a theater in St. Paul, Minnesota (1974)
• Bob Geldof and Bono met with the G8 finance ministers to discuss increasing aid to Africa, then performed at the final Live 8 concert for 50,000 in Edinburgh (2005)
• An ancient pass on the Silk Road between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opened for trade after 44 years (2006)

84 years ago today, the Story Bridge, the longest cantilever bridge in Australia, was officially opened to Brisbane traffic after 5 years of construction. Planning began during the Great Depression, and Kangaroo Point was selected as a suitable selection. Story Bridge would require two piers on the south side, but just one on the north side owing to its anchoring in a schist cliff face. 1.15 million rivets were used in attaching the steel components, and the total span is 777 meters (2,549 ft)

The primary challenge in construction was the depth of the Brisbane River on the south side. It went 40 meters down, and so a pneumatic caisson method was used to construct the piers. A caisson is an airtight structure that is lowered into the river. Once on the bottom, the water within the caisson is pumped out, and men can go down to drill the foundations and lay the concrete.

As men were working at up to 4 times normal air pressure, a decompression period of almost 2 hours was needed at the end of each shift to avoid the bends. An on-site air lock hospital treated 65 workers for the bends as a result of going down so far.

The Story Bridge features prominently in the annual Riverfire fireworks display and is illuminated at night. In 1990, road traffic was halted so pedestrians could celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bridge’s construction. (1940)

91 years ago today, the first Major League All-Star Game was played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, with the American League defeating the National League 4–2. Dreamt up by Chicago Tribune sports editor Archie Ward, it was actually part of an exhibition during the 1933 World’s Fair, and meant to be a one-off. However its success led to it becoming the traditional, if not mathematical, mid-way point in the baseball season, and picking up the name “Midsummer Classic.” READ the scores 90 years on…

The balance of power, now 90 years on, between the National and American Leagues, is astonishingly even.

Ninety-two All-Star Games have been played (including two games per year from 1959–1962), with the AL leading 47-43–2. The AL also has a 378–372 run advantage. This is despite the fact that there have been several “eras” of historic dominance, for example a stretch from 1963 to 1982 when the NL won 19 of 20. (1933)

Notable Birthdays: Della Reese, Emmy and Grammy-nominated actress/singer who starred in Touched by an Angel (1931–2017); Sylvester Stallone (76); Geoffrey Rush (71); Kevin Hart (43)

Happy 89th birthday to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Born in Taktser, China, and named at a young age to be the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, he also became a spiritual guide for non-Buddhists—especially as the author of several best-selling books on happiness. He is also the subject of a 2020 film, The Dalai Lama – Scientist, an award-winning documentary about the little-known side of him that is always in pursuit of science, which is available for rent or purchase.

As the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, last year, the monk celebrated his birthday by releasing an 11-track collaborative LP called Inner World—an album featuring teachings and mantras by the Dalai Lama set to music. Five years in the making, the project also includes a companion booklet, according to AP. “The religious leader recites the mantras of seven Buddhas on the album, discussing topics like wisdom, courage, healing, and children,” and an old prayer set to music for the track, Compassion.

Net proceeds from the sale of Dalai Lama’s first album will benefit ‘Mind & Life Institute’, as well as SEE Learning, an education program developed by Emory University and the Dalai Lama. Grammy-nominated sitar player Anoushka Shankar (Ravi Shankar’s famous daughter) makes a guest appearance on the album.

WATCH a 2020 BBC interview recorded… (1935)

And on this day in 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time in Liverpool when John’s band was performing. Lennon (aged 16) and his band the Quarrymen were performing at a St. Peter’s Woolton Parish Church dance. 

Paul McCartney (aged 15) was wheeling around on his bicycle – hoping to pick up girls – and heard the Quarrymen playing. Luckily, a mutual friend was there. Ivan Vaughan introduced John to Paul, who whipped out the guitar that was strapped to his back and played “Twenty Flight Rock” and “Be-Bop-a-Lula”, among others. John was impressed that Paul could tune a guitar and knew the words to the latter song. He “looked like Elvis,” said John, and he “dug him.” A few months later, Ivan told Paul that John wanted him in the band. Later they formed The Beatles, and the rest is musical history.

And, on this day in 1994, Forrest Gump, a film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, and Gary Sinise, was released in US theaters.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with Oscars for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (for Hanks), and Best Visual Effects (for all the scenes of Gump digitally inserted seamlessly among celebrities and presidents in vintage news clips).

The story depicts several decades in the life of a slow-witted but kind-hearted man from Alabama who joins the army and unwittingly influences several defining historical events in the 20th century. Some of the movie’s famous lines often quoted include: “Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re gonna get,” and “Stupid is as stupid does.”

The film’s soundtrack of popular hits from the 60s sold over 12 million copies and reached #2 on the Billboard chart.

Trivia about the movie: Hanks’ younger brother Jim Hanks was his acting double in the scenes when Forrest runs across the country; and John Travolta was the original choice to play the title role and admitted passing on the role was a mistake.

Sally Field, who portrayed Gump’s beloved mama compared the white feather floating down at the beginning and end of the film to fate and the chance elements that enter one’s life. “It blows in the wind and just touches down here or there. Was it planned or was it just perchance?” WATCH 25 of the best Gump quotes below…

SHARE the Milestones, Memories, Music, and Movies…