It’s the 70th birthday of Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950), the scholar, literary critic, historian, and host of PBS's "Finding Your Roots."

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On this date in 1963, a bomb killed four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The FBI suppressed evidence against the suspected bomber.

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On this day 700 years ago, the author Dante died from malaria, just months after completing the third and final part of his "Divine Comedy."

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It's the birthday of the pianist and composer Clara Schumann (1819-1896), who was much more popular than her husband Robert Schumann during their lifetime.

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It's the birthday of H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), who once called Arkansas “an apex of moronia,” and the legislature there passed a motion to pray for his soul.

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Featuring a poem by Jane Hirshfield called “Now A Darkness is Coming," from her newest poetry collection, "Ledger."

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It's the birthday of the poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019), whose partner, Molly, used to impersonate her on the phone so that Mary wouldn't have to talk to strangers.

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On this day 170 years ago, California became a U.S. state after being wrested from Mexico. It was the 31st state admitted to the Union, just before Minnesota.

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It was on this day 100 years ago that the first transcontinental U.S. airmail service began, from New York to San Francisco.

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On this day in 2008, the U.S. government took control of the two largest mortgage lenders in the country, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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