🌟 Editor's Note
Good morning — it’s Monday, March 9. Today, we’re checking out Martin Luther's Invocavit Sermons, the Amistad case, the bombing of Tokyo, the first Barbie doll, Biggie’s death, and a bunch of other stuff — all quick and straightforward, without any fluff.
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🚀 Time Machine
-1522
Martin Luther begins his "Invocavit Sermons" in Wittenberg, urging citizens to trust God's word over violence, marking the end of the Reformation's revolutionary phase.
-1776
Adam Smith published the influential economics book "The Wealth of Nations".
-1841
The US Supreme Court ruled in a historic case that the enslaved Africans who seized control of the La Amistad were illegally forced into slavery and thus free under American law.
-1918
The Bolshevik Party officially changes its name to the All-Russian Communist Party.
-1933
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called a special session of Congress, which passed 77 laws in its "100 days."
-1942
Dutch forces surrendered to the Japanese after two months of fighting.
-1945
U.S. warplanes bombed Tokyo, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs over 48 hours in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.
-1959
The first Barbie doll was displayed at the American Toy Fair in New York City.
-1961
Sputnik 9 returns from orbit with a dog named Chernushka (Blackie), mice, and the first guinea pig.
-1974
29 years after World War II ended, the last Japanese soldier surrendered in the Philippines.
-1985
First-ever Adopt-a-Highway sign installed on Texas' Highway 69.
-1997
Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka the Notorious B.I.G., was murdered in a drive-by shooting.
📸 Snapshot
Gas masks for babies tested at an English hospital, mothers outfitting their kids, 1940
🗨️ Last Words
“Kiss me... hug me tight.”