Today, we celebrate the 70th birthday of the talented and athletic actress Geena Davis! Best known for her iconic performances in Thelma and Louise and A League of Their Own, Geena won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Accidental Tourist back in 1988. A proud member of Mensa, she has long advocated for enhanced representation of women in children’s programming and leads the Women’s Sports Foundation. Remarkably, Geena was among 300 women competing for a spot on the US Olympic archery team, finishing 24th just two years after taking up the sport. In recognition of her impactful work in media, she received the Hollywood Hero award in 2007 – be sure to check out that inspiring video!
Turning back the clock, we also commemorate the formation of The Wilderness Society, which took place 91 years ago today. This passionate organization was created to protect and preserve our wilderness areas. Over the years, it has played a pivotal role in securing 111 million acres of protected land across 44 states. In the 1930s, while America was embracing its National Parks, there was a pressing need to focus on broader wilderness preservation, which The Wilderness Society sought to address.
In its early days, the Society engaged in vital legal and activist efforts, such as preventing the construction of a dam on the Green River within Dinosaur National Monument. The group truly made significant strides in 1953 when President Olaus Murie and activist Mardy Murie focused on safeguarding the northeastern corner of Alaska, known as “the last great wilderness.” Their advocacy bore fruit when, in 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower designated the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for protection.
In 1956, Howard Zahniser, a leader from the Wilderness Society, drafted groundbreaking legislation aimed at protecting wilderness areas across the nation. Over the next eight years, his bill underwent numerous revisions and faced extensive public hearings, ultimately leading to the signing of The Wilderness Act by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. This landmark legislation enabled Americans to safeguard their most pristine natural landscapes, immediately designating 9.1 million acres into the National Wilderness Preservation System and laying the groundwork for future conservation efforts.
Finally, on this day 44 years ago, the legendary B.B. King made a generous donation of his personal collection of up to 20,000 blues records to the University of Mississippi, helping to establish The Blues Archive at their Center for the Study of Southern Culture. This archive is the largest of its kind in the nation and one of the largest globally, now boasting an impressive 70,000 records spanning blues, jazz, and other southern music genres. B.B. King’s collection remains a cherished gem within this vast assortment of vinyl and CDs.
