The Salad Bowl Strike begins, the World Wide Web opens to the public, and this William Ernest Henley's birthday - with a reading of his poem "Invictus."

The birthday club includes Claude Debussy, Dorothy Parker, Ray Bradbury, and Annie Proulx - with a reading from Proulx's "The Shipping News."

Nat Turner begins a slave revolt and the Lincoln-Douglas debates begin - with a reading from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Minnie's Sacrifice."

Charles Darwin publishes his theory of evolution, U.S. President Andrew Johnson declares the Civil War over, Canada's Supreme Court lays out a road map to provincial secession, and it's the birthday of cosmic horror author H. P. Lovecraft. This episode also includes a reading of Lucille Clifton's "blessing of the boats."

Gold is discovered in California, the liberation of Paris begins, and it's Ogden Nash's birthday - with a reading of his poem, "Everybody Tells Me Everything."

Spanish grammar is published, women in the U.S. win the right to vote, Vladimir Nabokov’s novel "Lolita" is published in the U.S., South African activist Stephen Biko is arrested, and the birthday club includes Antonio Salieri and Margaret Murie - with a reading of Murie's comments on wilderness conservation to Congress.

Roanoke, George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm," and the birthday club includes Fredrika Bremer, Mark Felt, and Jonathan Franzen - with a reading from the 1585 writing "A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia."

The birthday club includes Lawrence of Arabia, Georgette Heyer, Wallace Thurman, William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., Charles Bukowski, and Diana Wynne Jones - with a reading from Jones' "Howl's Moving Castle."

The movie "The Wizard of Oz" premiers, Japan surrenders to end WWII, and the birthday club includes Walter Scott, Oscar Peterson, Stanley Milgram, and Stieg Larsson - with a reading from Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

FDR signs the Social Security Act into law and the birthday club includes Ernest Thompson Seton, Ernest Thayer, David Crosby, Danielle Steele, and Gary Larson - with a reading from Thayer's "Casey at the Bat."