February 19: ON THIS DAY in 1963, Asian Flu here called epidemic
ON THIS DAY IN 1913, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The men of the Second Unitarian Church, Clinton and Congress streets, held their monthly Round Table dinner and conference last night, in the church parlors. A number of prominent men attended the dinner and heard an interesting discussion of the Negro question. The speaker of the evening was Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis and author of “The Souls of Black Folk.” Dr. Du Bois took as the subject of his talk the question of the inner development of the Negro group in the United States. He spoke of the various lines of progress along which the Negroes of the United States are moving and showed what efforts the Negroes themselves are making to help advance the race.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Admiral Nimitz’ Headquarters, Guam (UP) — Two divisions of U.S. Marines — 30,000 — stormed Iwo Island from an 800-ship armada today and in two hours of bitter fighting established a 2 1/2-mile beachhead, extending to the edge of Suribachi Yama Airfield. Casualties were moderate and the operation was proceeding satisfactorily, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz said in his latest communique. Resistance from the trapped enemy forces was increasing as the veteran marines pushed inland on the tiny eight-square-mile island 750 miles from Tokyo, the communique said. Two hours after the initial landing was made, the marine veterans had pushed inland on an average of 500 yards and the defenses of Suribachi Yama airstrip were penetrated east of the field, the communique added. The marine beachhead extended northward along the southeastern coast from the 546-foot-high volcano that forms the southern tip of the island. Radio Tokyo conceded the Americans had won footholds on the southwest, south and east coasts.”