What happened on this day in history: Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass dies, Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain is born, and other important events from February 20th throughout history.
1792: The U.S. Post Office Department Is Founded
President George Washington signs the Postal Service Act establishing the U.S. Post Office Department. The act reinforced Congress’ right to establish new mail routes, allowed inexpensive newspaper deliveries, and established a right to mail privacy by making it illegal for postal officials to open letters and packages. The Postal Service remained a cabinet department until President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.
1824: History’s First Dinosaur Is Identified And Named
Wikimedia CommonsA portrait of William Buckland from 1833.
English naturalist William Buckland identifies and names a species of dinosaur for the first time in history. In fact, when Buckland addressed the Geological Society of London on February 20, 1824, the word “dinosaur” didn’t even exist and the world’s top scientists had little idea what to make of the enormous, prehistoric bones that had been excavated since the late 17th century.
Nevertheless, Buckland took a bold leap that day and told his colleagues that the mysterious bones that’d been unearthed near Oxford actually came from some kind of enormous, long-extinct lizard. He named his discovery “Megalosaurus,” from the Greek for “great lizard.” At the time, paleontology was so primitive that Buckland’s colleagues had speculated that the bones may have come from a Roman war elephant — or even some kind of oversized ancient human.
But after Buckland identified Megalosaurus, the dinosaur craze kicked off around the world, with countless scientists rushing out to search for other bones that’d shed more light on these astonishing prehistoric beasts.
1895: Frederick Douglass Dies
Bettmann/Getty ImagesFrederick Douglass’ speeches and books made a profound impact on American history.
Frederick Douglass dies following a heart attack in Washington, D.C. at the age of 77 or 78 (records of his birth vary). An abolitionist, activist, writer, and public speaker, Douglass began his life enslaved in Maryland but was able to escape bondage as a young man. He went on to write an account of his life in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, helping to fuel the abolitionist movement.
1939: Isadore Greenbaum Storms A Nazi Rally At Madison Square Garden
Twenty-six-year-old Isadore Greenbaum charges the stage of a Nazi rally held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. A Jewish plumber’s assistant from Brooklyn, Greenbaum had snuck into the rally and became enraged as he listened to Fritz Kuhn, the leader of the pro-Hitler German-American Bund, speak to the crowd of 22,000. Crying “Down with Hitler!” Greenbaum stormed the stage and was beaten by Nazi guards (Ordnungsdienst) before police dragged him away and arrested him.
1967: Kurt Cobain Is Born
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagicKurt Cobain performing in 1993, the year before he died by suicide.
Kurt Cobain is born in Aberdeen, Washington. The frontman of the grunge band Nirvana, Cobain wrote iconic songs like “Come As You Are,” “Lithium,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Behind the scenes, however, he struggled with depression, chronic health problems, and drug addiction, and ultimately Cobain died by his own hand in 1994 at the age of 27, leaving a haunting suicide note behind.
1985: Ireland Begins Allowing The Sale Of Contraceptives
The Irish government votes to allow the sale of contraceptives. Starting in 1979, people in Ireland could purchase contraception for “bona fide family planning purposes” as long as they had a prescription, but many believed that this still limited access to an unfair degree. In an 83-80 decision opposed by the Catholic Church, the government declared that people over 18 could purchase condoms and spermicides without a prescription and that hospitals and clinics could provide condoms and spermicides to their patients.
2005: Hunter S. Thompson Dies By Suicide
Michael Ochs Archive/Getty ImagesHunter S. Thompson died from a gunshot to the head at his Colorado home on February 20, 2005.
Legendary writer Hunter S. Thompson dies by suicide at age 67 inside his home in Woody Creek, Colorado. That evening, Thompson was wrapping up a phone call with his wife when she heard a click that she assumed was the sound of his typewriter keys just as she hung up.
In fact, it was the cocking of his gun, which he then put to his head and fired. His visiting daughter-in-law and grandson were in the next room, but they mistook the sound as innocent clatter, and it wasn’t until an hour later that Thompson’s son went in and found the body.
