What happened on January 29 - Interesting US History

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A Website Devoted to Interesting Events in U.S. History

ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY

January 29, 1954

Oprah Winfrey is Born

On this day in 1954, Oprah Winfrey, an American talk show host and actress was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

After her birth, she lived with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee in such poverty that she often wore dresses made of potato sacks. In spite of the poor conditions, her grandmother taught her to read before the age of three.

At the age of six, she moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother who had little time to care for her partially due to her job working long hours as a maid.

At the age of thirteen, she ran away from home prompting her mother to send her to live with her father, Vernon, in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strick but made education for her a priority.

After winning the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pagent at the age of 17, Winfrey was hired by a local black radio station who hired her to do the news part-time. She is now known as one of the world's most influential and powerful women.

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The Star Spangled Banner

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The Mayflower Beer Run

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Women in the Civil War

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The Gettysburg Address

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The First Submarine

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New York Dixie

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Our Founding Fathers

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Sherrod Bryant

Interesting History Myths

◦	Myth: George Washington was the First President of the United States
◦	Myth: Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone
◦	Myth: Daniel Boone wore a coonskin cap
◦	Myth: Betsy Ross designed the first American flag
◦	Myth: Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
◦	Myth: Christopher Columbus discovered the earth is round
◦	Myth: Abraham Lincoln's childhood log cabin is on display in Hodgenville, Kentucky
◦	Myth: The Civil War was all about slavery
◦	Myth: In April of 1775, Paul Revere rode through the streets from Boston to Lexington yelling "The British Are Coming"
◦	Myth: The Pilgrims lived in log cabins
◦	Myth: During the Civil War, Lincoln once said about Grant's drinking: "If I knew what brand he used, I'd send every general a barrel"
◦	Myth: Charles Lindbergh was the first man to fly nonstop across the Atlantic
◦	Myth: George Washington fathered several children by his slaves
◦	Myth: The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Bunker Hill
◦	Myth: When Confederate president, Jefferson Davis was arrested after the Civil War, he was wearing his wife's clothes
◦	Myth: The Liberty Bell rang on July 4, 1776 in celebration of American independence
◦	Myth: The reason Germany got off to such a fast start in World War II was because of its pre-war preparations

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