Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S., and happy birthdays to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Jim Harrison - with a reading from Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago."

Encyclopedia Brittanica publishes its first edition and the birthday club includes William Lloyd Garrison, Emily Dickinson, and Melvil Dewey - with a reading of Dickinson's '"Hope" is the thing with feathers.'

Genocide is named a crime by the U.N. and happy birthday to Dalton Trumbo - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."

A woman performs on stage - for the first time - in England, and happy birthdays to John Banville and Mary Gordon - with a reading from Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth."

The bombing of Pear Harbor, and happy birthdays to Willa Cather and Harry Chapin - with a reading from Cather's "My Antonia."

Georgia becomes the last state needed to ratify the 13th Amendment - ending slavery in the US, President Theodore Roosevelt states his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and the Irish Free State is born. The birthday club includes Cornelia Meigs, Ira Gershwin, and Stephen Wright - with a reading from Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth."

Georgia becomes the last state needed to ratify the 13th Amendment - ending slavery in the US, President Theodore Roosevelt states his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and the Irish Free State is born. The birthday club includes Cornelia Meigs, Ira Gershwin, and Stephen Wright - with a reading from Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth."

Mary McLeod Bethune establishes the National Council of Negro Women, the Montgomery Bus Boycott begins, and the birthday club includes Christina Rosetti, Walt Disney, Little Richard, and Joan Didion - with a reading from Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights."

North Carolina ratifies the 13th Amendment, the "Million-Dollar Quartet" records their only session, and the Free Speech Movement begins in Berkeley. And happy birthday to Rainer Maria Rilke - with a reading from his "Letters to a Young Poet."

The birthday club includes Octavia Hill, Joseph Conrad, and Gussie Davis - with a reading from Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."