President George Washington's Farewell Address, and the birthday club includes Sadie Delany, Rachel Field, and William Golding - with a reading from "Death Comes for the Archbishop," written by Willa Cather.

Tiffany gets fancy, the New-York Daily Times, Booker T. Washington delivers the Atlanta Exposition speech on race relations, and the Columbia Broadcasting Service signs on for the first time - with a reading from "Anne of Green Gables," by L.M. Boyd.

The signing of the U.S. Constitution, Antietam, and today's birthday club includes William Carlos Williams, John Creasey, Elizabeth Enright, Mary Stewart, and Hank Williams - with a reading from "Thimble Summer," by Elizabeth Enright.

The signing of the Montreal Protocol, and today's birthday club features Francis Parkman, Miriam Benjamin, and H. A. Rey - with a reading from Parkman's "The Oregon Trail."

Charles Darwin lands on the Galápagos Islands, Marilyn Monroe strikes an iconic pose, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and happy birthday to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - with a reading from her book "We Should All Be Feminists."

Handel finishes his masterpiece, "Messiah," and today's birthday club includes William H. Armstrong, Kate Millett, Bernard MacLaverty, and Bonnie Jo Campbell - with a reading from "The Loony-Bin Trip," by Kate Millett.

Henry Hudson reaches the river that now bears his name, the Battle on the Plains of Abraham, the bombardment of Baltimore, Margaret Chase Smith and James Meredith become "firsts," the adoption of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People, and happy birthday to Mildred D. Taylor - with a reading from "A Modern Utopia," by H.G. Wells.

John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia, Elias Howe is granted a patent for his sewing machine, and the birthday club includes Hanna Webster Foster, Mary Oliver, and Steven Jay Gould - with a reading from "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases," written by Ida B. Wells-Barnett.

The Stono Rebellion, the Compromise of 1850, and happy birthdays to Leo Tolstoy and my dad (those are two different people) - with a reading from Tolstoy's "War and Peace."

Michelangelo unveils his sculpture "David," the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance is published - again, the Great Galveston Hurricane slams into Texas, the Van Buren sisters finish their 5,500-mile motorcycle ride, and Nixon is pardoned - with a reading from "The Picture of Dorian Gray," by Oscar Wilde.