September 6, 2020
Day 250 of 366

 

September 6th is the 250th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Swaziland, commemorating their independence from the United Kingdom in 1968.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Coffee Ice Cream Day and National Read A Book Day.

 

Historical items of note:

• In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England on the Mayflower to settle in North America.
• In 1642, England’s Parliament banned public stage-plays. The Long Parliament ordered the closure of all London theatres, citing the current “times of humiliation” and their incompatibility with “public stage-plays”, representative of “lascivious Mirth and Levity”.
• In 1803, British scientist John Dalton began using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.
• In 1870, Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming became the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
• In 1916, the first self-service grocery store was opened in Memphis, Tennessee by Clarence Saunders. It was the Piggly Wiggly.
• In 1958, actor Michael Winslow was born. He is The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects.
• In 1969, The Brady Bunch premiered.
• In 1972, actor Idris Elba was born.
• In 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalized all consensual sex among adults in private, making homosexuality legal on the Indian lands.

 

September 6th is Unification Day (Ден на Съединението) in Bulgaria. It commemorates the unification of Eastern Rumelia and Bulgaria in 1885.

By the terms of the Treaty of Berlin in  1878, Southern Bulgaria (named Eastern Roumelia) was separated from the newly formed Bulgarian state and returned to the Ottoman Empire with partial autonomy. Bulgarian citizens considered the decisions of the Berlin Treaty to be unfair and began a peaceful demonstration against them.

The plan was to annex all territories that Bulgaria had gained after the Treaty of San Stefano but later it became clear that was impossible because of the unsuitable international situation. The Bulgarians had to leave Macedonia and the rest of Thrace and concentrate on the East Roumelian issue.

The first actions were taken in 1880, but it wasn’t until September of 1885 (after a lot of political movements) that the people rose in Goliamo Konare and advanced on the capital. Knyaz Alexander agreed to become a leader of the Unified Bulgaria and dismissed the temporary government. Diplomatic efforts failed and Bulgaria had to defend its interests on the battlefield in the Serbo-Bulgarian War where the Bulgarians were victorious.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.