This Week in History- February 3rd through February 9th

(2000s – Present) The Comeback: Superbowl LI, 2017

 

As we approach Superbowl Sunday, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at a superbowl that was unlike any before. The 2017 Super Bowl was played on February 5th, 2017 in Houston, Texas. The Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots met up for a memorable game that made NFL history. At halftime, it seemed like the Falcons were sure to win, holding a 28-3 lead over the Patriots. However, the Patriots managed to take over this huge point deficit in the third quarter and led the game to the first-ever overtime in the Superbowl. In overtime, the Patriots managed to pull through and win the game 34-28! The patriots quarterback Tom Brady has become a household name, and during this game, he was named the Super Bowl MVP for the fourth time in his career. To commemorate his achievements, The Daily News in Newburyport, Massachusetts shared that they would be minting a gold coin with Tom Brady on it! Not only was the dollar coin a cool collector’s item for Patriots fans, but it also was legal tender! 

My search tip of the week is one that seems quite obvious but is a common mistake that can limit your search results. Make sure that when you are looking up a specific word it is typed as it would be written. Take ‘super bowl’ for example; searching for ‘superbowl’ as one word gave me only a handful of results, but searching for it correctly split into two words turned up dozens more results. This is one small thing that can make your research experiences so much easier, as it helps the search system turn up the most relevant information!

(1980s – 2000s) Adding New Elements: Discovery of Copernicium, 1996

 

If you studied chemistry before February of 1996, the periodic table of elements likely looks different now than it did then. This is because a new chemical element, Copernicium, was discovered on February 9th, 1996. A team of scientists from various countries, led by Sigurd Hofmann at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Germany was behind the discovery. Element 112 was created using lead-208 and zinc-70 ions. The Quincy Herald-Whig shared this discovery but also mentioned that this wasn’t their first experience creating a new element. The same research center also discovered elements 107, 108, and 109 in the 1980s, in addition to elements 110 and 111 in 1994. The new element, element 112, is highly radioactive, and advanced nuclear physics theories with its discovery. With the discovery of element 112, scientists have been able to advance their knowledge of nuclear chemistry, building upon the knowledge of the nuclear age to understand the endless mysteries of our planet. 

(1945 – 1980s) The Day the Music Died: Buddy Holly’s Tragic Death, 1959

 

Buddy Holly is recognized as one of the most influential musicians from the 1950s rock and roll scene. After a childhood filled with music, he formed a band with his friend Bob Montgomery, called “Buddy and Bob”, which launched his career. He opened for Elvis Presley in 1955 and skyrocketed from those performances. He soon became a beloved American icon and played for millions across the country. In 1959, Holly was touring with fellow musicians Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson (AKA The Big Bopper) for the Winter Dance Party Tour. The group performed in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 2nd, and had chartered a plane to take them to their next gig in North Dakota following issues with the tour bus. Early in the morning on February 3rd, the plane took off from Mason City Municipal Airport, where weather conditions had been severely underestimated by both meteorologists and the airport crew. Visibility was incredibly low and light snow was flurrying, making it difficult for pilot Roger Peterson to properly navigate, and causing the plane to crash into a cornfield just 5 miles from the airport. All three members of the band, as well as the pilot, were killed on impact. 

Their deaths shook the music world and greater American society, as these talented musicians had lost their lives so young. At the time of the crash, Buddy Holly was 22, JP Richardson was 28, and Ritchie Valens was just 17 years old. They had so much life ahead of them, and no one anticipated they would be taken that soon. Perhaps the most interesting clip I pulled for this week’s piece is the clip I found in The Clear Lake-Mirror Reporter, published on February 5th, 1959 in the very town where Holly’s plane crashed. They start by describing the scene of the concert, how fans gathered to watch their favorite artists and juxtapose this image with the fact that two hours after the concert the artists were dead. This is a wonderful description of just how fast it happened, and how soon the music world was changed. They even included an image of the crash with the bodies of the stars in the background, which was eerie to see even decades later. The tragic day is often referred to as “the day the music died”, a lyric in the famous Don Mclean song American Pie. Despite his short career, Buddy Holly made an incredible impact on future generations and helped develop rock and roll as a genre. 

Often overshadowed by its more famous counterpart, the Winter Olympics boasts some of the most interesting sporting events that are competed at a professional level. On February 4th, 1932, the United States hosted the Winter Olympics for the very first time in Lake Placid, New York. A mere 17 nations attended the event, bringing a total of 252 athletes to compete in just 14 events. For comparison, the most recent Winter Olympic Games held in Beijing, China in 2022 hosted 2,871 athletes from 91 countries to compete in 109 events. Despite the small attendance numbers, the 1932 Olympic Games were historic for the first use of a victor podium in the Winter Olympics, as well as the first athlete in the Winter Olympics to win two gold medals. 

A reporter from Endicott New York shared his thoughts on the 1932 games in the Endicott Bulletin in preparation for their opening. In his report, he expressed wishes to take a portable typewriter and travel to watch competitors from across the globe. Not only did he wonder what they would be like, he was curious to know what the foreign athletes thought of New York, and how this differed from locals like him. It was fascinating to know that despite being less popular than the Summer Olympics, they still had excited fans for their competition. 

The 15th Amendment was adopted to the US Constitution on February 3, 1870, and was an important step in the civil rights movement. As part of the reconstruction, this amendment addressed the issue of discrimination against African American men’s right to vote. Stating that no citizen could be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude, this aimed to ensure that all male citizens had protected suffrage. The Villager, published in Amesbury, Massachusetts, celebrated the passing of the amendment for “securing to them perfect equality before the law”, a statement that was not fully accurate at the time.

While this was an important step in the battle for equality, it wasn’t the end of voting discrimination. Many states adopted practices to indirectly prevent African American citizens from voting. Poll taxes were implemented to deter the economically disadvantaged, which were predominantly people of color and former enslaved Americans. In addition, a literacy test was commonly required to vote, but the terms of this test were vague enough that they could be applied at the discretion of the poll worker. This was discriminatory for many reasons. First, many formerly enslaved Americans had not been taught to read, or the education they received was not the same quality as their white counterparts, making them more likely to fail these literacy tests. Second, there were no clear rules for these tests, meaning it was up to the individual conducting the test to decide what they had to read, and if they passed the test. This made it easy for them to be more lenient with white Americans, and harsher with everyone else. However, it was hard to strike down these practices for infringing on the 15th amendment, because they weren’t explicitly discriminating based on race. Nonetheless, the 15th Amendment was a very important stepping stone in the fight for racial equality in the United States.