JFKโs Harvard sweater sold at auction for more than $85,000
This undated photo released by RR Auction shows a Harvard University letter sweater that once belonged to former President John F. Kennedy, up for auction between Feb. 11-18, 2021, by the Boston-based auction firm. (Nikki Brickett/RR Auction via AP)BOSTON โ John F. Kennedyโs Harvard University sweater, given away to a television cameraman who mentioned that he was chilly while interviewing Jacqueline Kennedy, has sold at auction for more than $85,000. The crimson wool cardigan, featuring a large black block-letter โHโ and eight white mother-of-pearl buttons, was one of several mementos from U.S. presidents sold during a President's Day auction that ended Thursday, according to Boston-based RR Auction. AdJFK's Harvard sweater, with his surname sewn into the collar, was acquired by Herman Lang, a CBS cameraman who filmed an interview with Jacqueline Kennedy in 1964, the year after the 35th president's assassination in Dallas. It is believed that because the interview was outdoors, Lang mentioned that he was cold and was offered the sweater, according to RR Auction.
Unity has long been a theme, and anxiety, for new presidents
(AP Photo, File)NEW YORK โ When Joe Biden addresses the country for the first time as president, his inaugural speech is likely to echo calls for unity that predecessors have invoked since the first time George Washington was sworn in. Unity has since been a theme, and an anxiety, for many incoming presidents, who have faced economic and social crises and moments when the very future of the U.S. was in doubt. โUnity has always been an aspiration," says presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. But when we have domestic turmoil we use the word unity.โThe United States was forged through compromise among factions that disagreed profoundly on slavery, regional influence and the relative powers of state and federal government. โA president often claims the country is โunitedโ behind a belief when itโs more wishful thinking than reality,โ Widmer says.
Statue of slave kneeling before Lincoln is removed in Boston
FILE - In this June 25, 2020, file photo, a statue that depicts a freed slave kneeling at President Abraham Lincoln's feet rests on a pedestal in Boston. On Tuesday, Dec. 29, the statue that drew objections amid a national reckoning with racial injustice was removed from its perch. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)A statue of Abraham Lincoln with a freed slave appearing to kneel at his feet โ optics that drew objections amid a national reckoning with racial injustice โ has been removed from its perch in downtown Boston. Workers removed the Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Emancipation Group and the Freedmanโs Memorial, early Tuesday from a park just off Boston Common where it had stood since 1879. Freed Black donors paid for the original in Washington; white politician and circus showman Moses Kimball financed the copy in Boston.
US lawmakers unveil anti-slavery constitutional amendment
FILE - This Nov. 29, 2011, file photo shows the signature of president Abraham Lincoln on a rare, restored copy of the 13th Amendment that ended slavery, in Chicago. As ratified, the original amendment has permitted exploitation of labor by convicted felons for over 155 years since the abolition of slavery. Constitutional amendments are rare and require approval by two-thirds of the House and Senate, as well as ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures. In Merkleyโs Oregon, voters in 2002 approved the elimination of constitutional language that prohibited Black Americans from living in the state unless they were enslaved. The prevalence of prison labor has been largely accepted as a means for promoting rehabilitation, teaching trade skills and reducing idleness among prisoners.
KSAT Kids: Today in History, Dec. 1
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 1, the 336th day of 2020. In 1965, an airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland. In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II. In 1989, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. In 1990, British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries finally met after knocking out a passage in a service tunnel.
KSAT Kids: Today in History, Nov. 19
Today is Thursday, Nov. 19, the 324th day of 2020. Todayโs Highlight in History:On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. 1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end in between Germany and the Allies of World War I exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. (Public domain)In 1942, during World War II, Russian forces launched their winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front. Actor Reid Scott is 43.
KSAT Kids: Today in History, Nov. 6
Today is Friday, Nov. 6, the 311th day of 2020. Todayโs Highlight in History:On Nov. 6, 1860, former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party was elected President of the United States as he defeated John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower won re-election, defeating Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan won re-election by a landslide over former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic challenger. In 1986, former Navy radioman John A. Walker Jr., the admitted head of a family spy ring, was sentenced in Baltimore to life imprisonment.
President Trump is on the mend, but we couldnโt help but wonder: How many U.S. presidents have died while in office?
But we couldnโt help but wonder: How many presidents have died while in office? Vice President John Tyler took the oath of office after Harrisonโs death and became president. Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president following Lincolnโs death. Vice President Calvin Coolidge then became president. Franklin D. RooseveltAfter winning a record fourth presidential election, Roosevelt died suddenly in April 1945 of a stroke.
Lock of Lincoln's hair and bloodied telegram up for auction
This July 2020 photo released by RR Auction shows a lock of hair from former President Abraham Lincoln, to be auctioned Sept. 12, 2020, by the Boston-based auction firm. (Nikki Brickett/RR Auction via AP)This is one macabre auction: A lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair, wrapped in a bloodstained telegram about his 1865 assassination, is up for sale. The auction house set the minimum bid at $10,000 but expects the lock and telegram to fetch $75,000 or more, spokesman Mike Graff said. The hair is mounted on an official War Department telegram sent to Dr. Todd by George Kinnear, his assistant in the Lexington, Kentucky, post office. The telegram is evidence to disprove the misinformation and conspiracy theories in the Lincoln assassination, Graff said.
Nearly 1 in 4 VA employees report sex harassment, audit says
The VA is not the same VA as four years ago, insisted acting VA deputy secretary Pam Powers, pointing to increased outreach to women and improved trust ratings in the VA from employees and patients alike according to internal polling. His effort seeks to reinforce a call by top Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee last week for a faster timeline. About 1 in 3 VA employees said they witnessed an act of sexual harassment. Overall, an estimated 26% of female and 14% of male VA employees experienced harassment during the two-year period. A study released by the VA last year found 1 in 4 women veterans using VA health care reported inappropriate comments by male veterans on VA grounds, raising concerns they may delay or miss their treatments.
KSAT Q&A: History of Juneteenth in the U.S.
San Antonio Carey Latimore, associate professor and historian at Trinity University, talked with KSATs Steve Spriester and Myra Arthur about the history of Juneteenth as a holiday in America. Related: Google joins nationwide celebration of JuneteenthFrom then on, formerly enslaved people celebrated June 19 as Juneteenth, marking their freedom. Latimore said that Juneteenth ebbs and flows in popularity, but American people are identifying with the holiday because of peoples relationships with race and society. I think weve reached a point in our society that were starting to question our relationship with race and to question ways in which we really have a question, Latimore said. Do black lives matter in the same way as other lives?'
Beyonc Drops Empowering 'Black Parade' Song in Celebration of Juneteenth -- Listen
The empowering track, titled "Black Parade," touches on the world's current events, as well as celebrates Black excellence. "'Black Parade' celebrates you, your voice and your joy and will benefit Black-owned small businesses." Black joy is your right." Additionally, "Black Parade" benefits BeyGOOD's Black Business Impact Fund, administered by the National Urban League, to support Black-owned small businesses in need. On the "Love on Top" singer's website, fans are also redirected to a page with more information on the companies.
Witte Museum brings back โOde to Juneteenthโ play to rotation of theater performances
SAN ANTONIO โ The Witte Museum on Friday announced that the play โOde to Juneteenthโ will be brought back as part of the Gallery Theater performances that will be shown this fall. The play, written by nationally renowned playwright Eugene Lee, was first shown in 2018 as part of the Witteโs โConfluence and Culture: 300 Years of San Antonio Historyโ. The museum said they were bringing the play back in celebration of Juneteenth. According to a press release, โOde to Juneteenthโ follows Emancipation Jones, who begins the play by illuminating and commemorating Juneteenth in San Antonio by the reading of General Order No. The daily schedule of Gallery Theater and daily demonstrations can be found on both the Witteโs website and their app.
The history of Juneteenth, how San Antonio celebrates
SAN ANTONIO President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but it wasnt until June 19th, 1865, that Union soldiers landed at Galveston with news that the enslaved were free. Now that day, Juneteenth, is a nationally celebration commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Its a history of our lives and where we have come from, said friend of the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum (SAACAM) Charla Hutchens, and it reflects our joyousness of being free, to be a free person, to not be enslaved.There are some business people here in San Antonio on the East Side that organize a parade. It usually starts over on Houston Street past East Sam Houston High School, Susan Glosson, friend of SAACAM, said. You can find more information on how San Antonio is celebrating Juneteenth 2020 in this article.