Moments in Time – June 14, 2023

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• On June 26, 1927, the Cyclone roller coaster opened at Coney Island in New York City. Notable riders are said to have included Charles Lindbergh, who reportedly described the experience as “greater than flying an airplane at top speed.”
• On June 27, 1833, American schoolteacher Prudence Crandall, a white woman, was arrested after she refused to shut down the academy she’d founded for “little misses of color” in Canterbury, Connecticut. Ultimately, the case was dismissed on a technicality, though Crandall ended up closing the school in fear for students’ safety after a mob attack the following year.
• On June 28, 1976, Janet C. Wolfenbarger and 156 other women became the first women to enter the United States Air Force Academy. Wolfenbarger went on to further make U.S. military history in 2012 when she also became the first woman in the Air Force to receive the rank of a four-star general.
• On June 29, 2000, rapper Eminem’s mother, Debbie Mathers-Nelson, filed a $10 million lawsuit against her son, claiming slander and defamation of character for comments he made about her on his 1999 debut album, “The Slim Shady LP,” and in interviews, including the line, “My mom smokes more dope than I do.”
• On June 30, 1859, Charles Blondin became the first person to cross Niagara Falls by walking across a tightrope. He managed the feat in about 23 minutes, walking the complete length and back again on a line that was just 2 inches thick and 2,200 feet long.
• On July 1, 1972, the feminist magazine Ms., founded by activists Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes, published its first regular issue, featuring Wonder Woman on the cover. Steinem’s choice to showcase the Amazonian superhero was inspired partly by DC Comics’ decision to have the long-running character lose her superpowers (which were soon restored).
• On July 2, 1505, on the verge of becoming a lawyer, Martin Luther was caught outside in a violent thunderstorm. Praying aloud for St. Anne to save him, he promised to become a monk if his life was spared. He survived the tempest and entered an Augustinian monastery several weeks later, despite the efforts of his friends to persuade him otherwise.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.