“The Discovery of Nat Turner,” by William Henry Shelton

Today in History

• British monarch George III declares that the American colonies are in an open state of rebellion (1775)
• Parts of North Carolina (modern eastern Tennessee) establish the independent state of Franklin; it only last four years (1784)
• Nat Turner’s slave rebellion is suppressed (1831)
• The First Opium War between the United Kingdom and China begins (1839)
• César Chavez’s Salad Bowl strike begins (1970)
• A Swedish bank robbery gone wrong leads to the term “Stockholm syndrome” (1973)
• The World Wide Web goes publish (1991)
• Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown in Libya (2011)

Birthdays

• Louis XVI of France, monarch (1754)
• Oliver Hazard Perry, US naval commander who originated “Don’t Give Up the Ship” (1785)
• Alexander Calder, sculptor (1846)
• Arnold Toynbee, historian (1852)
• Edgar Lee Masters, poet (1868)
• Jonathan Wainwright, US general (1883)
• Will Cuppy, humorist (1884)
• Harry Frank Guggenheim, publisher (1890)
• Ernie Bushmiller, cartoonist (1905)
• Gene Kelly, actor and dancer (1912)
• Tex Williams, singer-songwriter (1917)
• Barbara Eden, actress (1931)
• Mark Russell, comedian and pianist (1932)
• Sonny Jurgensen, fotboll player (1934)
• Keith Moon, drummer (1946)
• Shelley Long, actress (1949)
• Rick Springfield, singer-songwriter (1949)
• Queen Noor of Jordan, royal consort (1951)
• River Phoenix, actor (1970)
• Kobe Bryant, basketball player (1978)

Deaths

• Caesarion, Egyptian king, son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra (30 BCE)
• William Wallace, Scottish rebel (1305)
• Increase Mather, minister (1723)
• Oliver Hazard Perry, US naval commaner (1819)
• Sacco and Vanzetti, anarchists (1927)
• Oscar Hammerstein II, composer and filmmaker (1960)
• Hoot Gibson, actor and filmmaker (1962)
• Francis X. Bushman, actor (1966)
• R. D. Laing, psychiatrist (1989)
• David Rose, composer (1990)
• Alfred Eisenstaedt, photographer (1995)

Holidays and Observances

• Battle of Kursk Day (Russia)
• Day of the National Flag (Ukraine)
• Black Ribbon Day (European Union, remembrance of victims of Stalin and the Nazis)
• International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
• National Day for Physicians (Iran)
• Umhlanga Day (Swaziland)

August 23 is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years). There are 130 days remaining until the end of the year.