The U.S. approves the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. and UK set the modern border of Canada, and the U.N. tries to promote cultural expression as a counterweight to intellectual property. The birthday club includes Isabel de Chaurrier and Nellie McClung - with a reading from McClung's "Sowing Seeds in Danny."

The American colonists win their independence from the British, "Black Monday" upends the U.S. financial markets, and the birthday club includes Miguel Angel Asturias, Walter Munk, John le Carre, Phillip Pullman, and Tracy Chevalier - with a reading from Willa Cather's "My Antonia."

Herman Melville publishes "The Whale" - better known as "Moby Dick" - in London, Phyllis Wheatley is granted her freedom, and the birthday club includes Isabelle Briggs-Meyers, Martha Burk, Ntozake Shange, Wendy Wasserstein, and Terry McMillan - with a reading from McMillan's take on writing.

Marconi goes wireless across the Atlantic and the birthday club includes Elinor Glyn, Jerry Siegel, Arthur Miller, George Mackay Brown, Ariel Levy, and Randall Munroe - with a reading from Brown's "A Time to Keep."

Charlotte Bronte publishes "Jane Eyre," and the Cardiff Giant is "discovered."

The Julian calendar gives way to the Gregorian calendar and the birthday club includes P. G. Wodehouse, Mario Puzo, Italo Calvino, and Eugene Patterson - with a reading from Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves."

George Eastman gets the U.S. patent for "paper strip" photographic film, Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier, and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The birthday club includes Katherine Mansfield and Usher - with a reading from Mansfield's "At the Bay."

The birthday club includes Mary Kingsley, Arna Bontemps, and Paul Simon - with a reading from Bontemps' "A Black Man Talks of Reaping."

The Governor of Massachusetts Bay ends the Salem Witch Trials, the first asylum for the mentally ill opens in the U.S., Desmond Doss becomes the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, and nearly 50,000 Finns leave their religion after a debate on gay marriage in Finland. It is the birthday of Kamini Roy and we hear a reading from Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."

The San Francisco school board tells Japanese students they can no longer attend public schools, the AIDS quilt is first displayed, and the birthday club includes Elmore Leonard and Thich Nhat Hanh - with a reading of Leonard's "10 Rules of Writing."