February 1st in History

“Emancipation,” by Thomas Nast

Today in History

  • President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery (1865)
  • The first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary is published (1884)
  • Thomas Edison finishes construction of the Black Maria, the first motion picture studio (1893)
  • Russia switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar (1918)
  • Vidkun Quisling is appointed president of German-occupied Norway (1942)
  • The Voice of America begins broadcasting (1942)
  • Civil Rights Movement: The first Greensboro sit-in takes place when four black students sit at a segregated lunch counter and refuse to leave until served(1960)
  • The Beatles have their first US number one hit with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (1964)
  • Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after fifteen years in exile (1979)
  • The Space Shuttle Columbia breaks up during reentry, killing all seven aboard (2003)

Birthdays

  • Victor Herbert, operetta composer (1959)
  • Charles Nordhoff, author (1887)
  • John Ford, filmmaker (1894)
  • Clark Gable, actor (1901)
  • Langston Hughes, poet (1902)
  • S. J. Perelman, humorist (1904)
  • George Pal, filmmaker (1908)
  • Richard Hooker, author of M*A*S*H (1924)
  • Boris Yeltsin, Russian president (1931)
  • Don Everly, singer-songwriter with the Everly Brothers (1937)
  • Garrett Morris, comedian (1937)
  • Sherman Hemsley, actor (1938)
  • Fritjof Capra, physicist and author (1939)
  • Terry Jones, filmmaker, member of Monty Python (1942)
  • Rick James, singer-songwriter (1948)
  • Sherilyn Fenn, actress (1965)
  • Lisa Marie Presley, singer-songwriter, daughter of Elvis Presley (1968)
  • Pauly Shore, comedian (1968)

Deaths

  • Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein (1851)
  • Philip Francis Nowlan, creator of Buck Rogers (1940)
  • Piet Mondrian, painter (1944)
  • Hedda Hopper, gossip columnist (1966)
  • Buster Keaton, actor and filmmaker (1966)
  • Werner Heisenberg, physicist (1976)
  • Herb Caen, columnist (1997)
  • Ed Koch, New York City mayor (2013)
  • Maximilian Schell, actor (2014)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius)
  • Air Force Day (Nicaragua)
  • Federal Territory Day (Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya, Malaysia)
  • Heroes Day (Rwanda)
  • Imbolc (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and various northern hemisphere neopagan groups)
  • Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)
  • National Freedom Day (US)
  • World Hijab Day

February 1 is the 32nd day of the year. There are 333 days (334 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.