“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”—part of Francis Scott Key’s “Defence of Fort M’Henry”

Francis Scott Key watched the Battle of Fort McHenry through the night of September 13, 1814. He watched “the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,” the light from which “Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

He composed the four-stanza poem commemorating the successful American defense of the fort on this date 202 years ago; it was published in newspapers within days and set to song soon after that, when it became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The music was added later.
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“No public worship is tolerated by Act of Assembly but to those that profess faith in Christ, and therefore Jewish worship is not to be allowed.”—Colonial New York Assembly.

A Jewish community in New York submitted a petition to New York’s Colonial Governor, Thomas Dongan, on this date in 1695, in which it requested permission to worship openly. This was new in itself, and Governor Dongan submitted the petition to the state assembly. This level of respect was new, too. The petition was denied, as quoted above. The Jewish community continued to worship in secrecy.

Unrelated to the above, there is a park named after governor Dongan in my hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York.

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A French teenager accidentally discovered the entrance to Lascaux cave in France on this date in 1940. Once inside, he became the first human to gaze at the extensive Paleolithic era wall paintings in thousands of years. At 17,000 years old, the paintings are not the oldest in the world or in France—many of the paintings in Chauvet Cave are more than 30,000 years old—but Lascaux may be the most famous site of its sort. (One image from Lascaux is at top.)
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September 11, 2001, was a Tuesday. Among many things, it was a Tuesday.

It is a day inscribed in history: four planes were crashed in a coordinated act of mass murder that ended many lives and affected the histories of this nation and many others. Repercussions are still echoing. Every year since 2002, a “Tribute in Light” has illuminated the sky above Lower Manhattan. (Seen above.)

Personal details from that day 15 years ago are etched in almost every American’s heart and memory. (For me, the memories are such that I do not visit them often. I do not feel the need to do so here or today. I had moved from New York to Iowa in May 2000, so I had lived in that great state for a year and a half. I was everyone’s token New Yorker there for the next couple weeks, had my arm touched and even had my hand shaken as if I was some sort of something from “there.” All of it was welcome. I never felt so strange and alone before.)

In mainstream media, Tuesday is the day of the week that albums are released, books are officially published, films debut in theaters.

Among the albums that were released to stores on that infamous date in 2001: Mariah Carey’s soundtrack to her movie of the same name, Glitter; God Hates Us All by Slayer; Nickelback’s Silver Side Up; Ben Folds’ solo debut Rockin’ the Suburbs; The Blueprint from Jay-Z (“H to the Izz-o, V to the Izz-A”); and “Love And Theft” from Bob Dylan.
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