Abraham Lincoln delivers his speech not known as "A House Divided," and it is Bloomsday. It is also the birthday of Joyce Carol Oates - with a reading from her book "We Were the Mulvaneys."

England's King John signs the Magna Carta and Arlington National Cemetery is established in the U.S. It is the birthday of Ramon Lopez Velarde - with a reading from his poem "Because of this Modest Style."

It is the birthday of the U.S. Armed Forces, and Charles Babbage presents his "difference engine," and the Bear Flag Revolt makes America bigger. It is also the birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe - with a reading from her landmark book "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Thurgood Marshall is nominated to the U.S Supreme Court, the New York Times publishes the Pentagon Papers, and it is the birthday of William Butler Yeats - with a reading of Yeats' "The Second Coming."

Virginia adopts the influential Declaration of Rights written by George Mason, on her 13 th birthday, Anne Frank gets a blank book, and the U.S. Supreme Court rules that interracial couples can marry. It is Rona Jaffe's birthday - with a reading from her book "The Best of Everything."

Civil rights come into focus on this day in 1963. A Buddhist monk sets himself on fire to protest religious oppression in Vietnam, Alabama Governor George Wallace stands in a UA doorway to prevent two Black students from attending the University, and Pres. John F. Kennedy promises new civil rights legislation. NAACP activist Medgar Evers is assassinated. This episode includes a reading from "Medgar Evers: A Hero in Life and Death."

So-called "spectral evidence" is allowed in Massachusetts Bay Colony and result in the executions of the Salem Witch Trials. On this day, Howlin' Wolf and Saul Bellow were born on this day - with a reading from Bellow's "Herzog."

France and China sign the Treaty of Tientsin and the birthday club includes Cole Porter, Robert McNamara, and Jackie Wilson - with a reading from Porter's "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love."

The U.S. Bill of Rights takes shape, the Antiquities Act is passed, George Orwell's "1984" is published and it is the birthday of comedian Joan Rivers - with a reading from "1984."

Spain and Portugal carve up the New World in the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Petition of Right is passed in England, and American colonists say they should form an independent nation. The birthday club includes Gwendolyn Brooks and Louise Erdrich - with a reading from Brooks' "Maud Martha."