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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey guys, I hope you enjoy these classic

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Speaker 1: episodes from the t D I h C Vault. I'm

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Speaker 1: currently researching a new crop of stories for next year,

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Speaker 1: so be sure to join me again on January second

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Speaker 1: when we return with all new episodes. Talk to you soon.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff

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Speaker 1: Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff You

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Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore

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Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick

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Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hi, I'm Holly

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Speaker 1: Fry and I am sitting in this week for Tracy V. Wilson.

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Speaker 1: It is December and on this day in ninety six,

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Speaker 1: Quanza was celebrated for the first time. Just in case

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Speaker 1: you do not know, Quanza is a seven day Pan

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Speaker 1: African holiday and it's intended to celebrate African family, culture,

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Speaker 1: and community. But it grew out of a really tumultuous time.

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Speaker 1: In a six day stretch during August of nineteen sixty five,

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Speaker 1: the predominantly black Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts was devastated

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Speaker 1: by a series of riots which started with the traffic

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Speaker 1: stop that quickly escalated into a massive conflict between police

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Speaker 1: and the neighborhood's residents. By the time the riots ended,

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Speaker 1: thirty four people had been killed and another one thousand,

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Speaker 1: thirty two injured. One thousand buildings were destroyed, and an

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Speaker 1: estimated forty million dollars in damages was done. Dr Malana Karenga,

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Speaker 1: a faculty member and former chair of Black Studies at

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Speaker 1: California State University at Long Beach, was an activist a

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Speaker 1: year into his doctoral work in African Affairs at u

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Speaker 1: c l A. At the time, in an effort to

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Speaker 1: rebuild a sense of community, Karenga founded the organization US

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Speaker 1: to encourage cultural unity among African Americans, and under the

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Speaker 1: auspices of US, Karenga organized Black Power rallies and also

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Speaker 1: created the idea of Quanza. The first week long Quanza

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Speaker 1: celebration began on December twenty six of nineteen six six.

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Speaker 1: And Karenga is a controversial figure. He was born Ronald

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Speaker 1: McKinley Everett in nineteen forty one, and he took the

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Speaker 1: name mal Lana, which means master teacher in Swahili, and Karenga,

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Speaker 1: which means keeper of tradition in the same language. While

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Speaker 1: he was working on his doctorate. He has come under

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Speaker 1: criticism from a variety of quarters. His past as an

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Speaker 1: activist has been characterized as extremist. His organization US was

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Speaker 1: in conflict with the Black Panthers in the nineteen sixties,

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Speaker 1: which often led to violence, sometimes lethal. The FBI investigated

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Speaker 1: US and the Black Panthers, and in nineteen sixty eight,

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Speaker 1: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called both the Black Panther

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Speaker 1: Party and US black extremist groups. Hoover also felt that

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Speaker 1: the Panthers and US needed to be kept divided to

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Speaker 1: prevent a union between them which would consolidate power. In

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, Karenga fell into conflict with his own

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Speaker 1: colleagues in the US organization. Also that year, he was

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Speaker 1: convicted and served time for felonious assault and imprisonment in

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Speaker 1: a case which involved the torture of two women who

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Speaker 1: witnesses said Karenga believed to be plotting against him. Karenga

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Speaker 1: has consistently denied any involvement with this incident. He was

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Speaker 1: released in nineteen In relation to Kwanza Karenga has also

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Speaker 1: been criticized in that case for allowing it to become

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Speaker 1: a commercial holiday in conflict with the ideals of celebrating

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Speaker 1: and exploring African identity and community. But despite the criticisms

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Speaker 1: leveled against its creator, in the decades since its inception,

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Speaker 1: Quanza has become part of millions of people's holiday celebrations

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Speaker 1: around the world. It is at this point bigger than

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Speaker 1: its creator, and it has become associated with finding and

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Speaker 1: celebrating joy and pride in African heritage and traditions. Harvest

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Speaker 1: celebrations from a variety of African cultures, including Ashanti in Zulu,

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Speaker 1: have inspired and informed the practices of the holiday. The

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Speaker 1: name for kuan comes from the phrase matunda ya Kwanza,

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Speaker 1: which translates from the Swahili to first fruits. Words in

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Speaker 1: Swahili were specifically chosen for the holiday because it is

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Speaker 1: a language spoken by a large number of people, and

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Speaker 1: the language is not connected to any specific region or

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Speaker 1: tribe in Africa. Karenga has described it as a non

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Speaker 1: ethnic tongue. Each of Kwanzas seven days of celebration from

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Speaker 1: December twenty six to January one, is dedicated to one

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Speaker 1: of the seven principles of Quanza called Gouzo Saba. Those

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Speaker 1: principles are unity, self determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity,

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Speaker 1: and faith. As any holiday, there are variations in the

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Speaker 1: way Kwanza is celebrated from home to home and community

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Speaker 1: to community, but for most a candle is lit each

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Speaker 1: night in a candle holder called a kinara, often by

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Speaker 1: a child, and then there is discussion focused on the

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Speaker 1: principle related to that day. On December thirty one to

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Speaker 1: the in a night of Kwanza, there is a feast

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Speaker 1: called a Karamu, and the final day, January one, is

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Speaker 1: one of reflection. Thanks to Eaves Jeff Cote for research

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Speaker 1: on this episode, and for Casey Pegram and Chandler Maze

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Speaker 1: doing their amazing sound work on it. You can always

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Speaker 1: subscribe to This Day in History class on Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Speaker 1: Tomorrow we will have a story of sobriety and a

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Speaker 1: little bit of violence. Hey everyone, Eave's here. It's the

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Speaker 1: holiday season and I'm at home keeping really cozy, but

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Speaker 1: history must go on. So here we are. Let's get

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Speaker 1: into another episode the day was December Scottish mathematician, science

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Speaker 1: and science writer Mary Somerville was born. Her works made

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Speaker 1: contemporary scientific ideas more accessible to a wider audience and

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Speaker 1: influenced how physical science developments were discussed. Mary was born

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Speaker 1: Mary Fairfax in Jetbrah, Scotland. She was the fifth of

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Speaker 1: seven children born to Vice Admiral Sir William George Fairfax

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Speaker 1: and Margaret Fairfax, both of whom came from well off families.

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Speaker 1: Because her father was in the Royal Navy, he was

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Speaker 1: often at sea, her mother home schooled her when she

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Speaker 1: was young. Mary learned to read, but she did not

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Speaker 1: learn to read very well, and she could not write.

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Speaker 1: Girls were expected to learn household and social skills, and

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Speaker 1: Mary did chores and learned from the Bible. Beyond that,

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Speaker 1: she often spent time by the seashore and moors. When

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Speaker 1: Mary was around ten years old and her father returned

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Speaker 1: home from a long absence, he was happy with the

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Speaker 1: fact that she could not read well or write and

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Speaker 1: did not know math, so he sent her off to

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Speaker 1: a boarding school in the town of Muscleborough. But the

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Speaker 1: elite school was not a good fit for Mary. Though

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Speaker 1: she learned some handwriting grammar, math, and French at the school,

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Speaker 1: She only stayed there for a year. As a teenager,

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Speaker 1: Mary spent a lot of time in social activities like

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Speaker 1: going to concerts and parties, but she also began studying

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Speaker 1: on her own. After seeing algebraic symbols in a magazine,

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Speaker 1: she gained an interest in algebra, and she was an

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Speaker 1: avid reader. She took advantage of her family's library, studying navigation, Greek, Latin,

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Speaker 1: and geometry. Her parents tried to keep her from studying

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Speaker 1: math because they believe that studying such a complex academic

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Speaker 1: subject could cause girls physical and mental harm. They even

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Speaker 1: took her candles so she couldn't study at night, but

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Speaker 1: she did manage to educate herself and seek it. Her

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Speaker 1: brother's tutor bought her books and she memorized some books,

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Speaker 1: and an uncle helped her with classical studies. In eighteen

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Speaker 1: o four, Mary was forced to marry her first cousin,

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Speaker 1: Samuel Greek, who was a captain in the Russian Navy.

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Speaker 1: They moved to London and had two sons, one of

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Speaker 1: whom died as a baby. She had a little more

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Speaker 1: leeway to study math and science now that she was married,

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Speaker 1: but Samuel did not support her intellectual proceuits. He died

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Speaker 1: in eighteen oh seven and she returned to Scotland with

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Speaker 1: her son. The death of her husband brought her more

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Speaker 1: financial freedom and allowed her to pursue her studies openly.

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Speaker 1: She studied higher math and physical astronomy, and she read

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Speaker 1: Isaac Newton's book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy on the

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Speaker 1: Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation. Her studies were encouraged

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Speaker 1: by some scholars, like William Wallace, a professor of mathematics

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Speaker 1: at Edinburgh University. In eighteen twelve, she married Dr William Somerville,

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Speaker 1: an army doctor who was also her cousin, but unlike

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Speaker 1: Samuel Greig, he supported her studies. She began studying geology

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Speaker 1: and botany. The couple moved to London and had four

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Speaker 1: children together, though only to survive to adulthood. In London,

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Speaker 1: they became friends with other scientists like William Herschel and

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Speaker 1: Caroline Herschel, as well as Charles Babbage. In Mary published

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Speaker 1: her first scientific paper on the magnetizing power of the

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Speaker 1: more refrangible solar rays. Though the paper was praised and

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Speaker 1: she continued doing experiments with solar radiation. The idea that

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Speaker 1: the son's radiation could magnetize substances was proven incorrect. Her

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Speaker 1: own research got some attention, but her translations and works

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Speaker 1: detailing other scientific research and discoveries was more popular. Mary

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Speaker 1: spent four years translating and condensing mathematician Pierre Samone Laplace's

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Speaker 1: celestial mechanics, and in eighty one, the more accessible Mechanism

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Speaker 1: of the Heavens was available to the public. Three years later,

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Speaker 1: her second book, The Connection of the Physical Sciences, was published.

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Speaker 1: The book summarized what was known about the physical sciences

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Speaker 1: and showed how the science is connected with one another.

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Speaker 1: Mary and Caroline Herschel were the first woman who were

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Speaker 1: named honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society. Somerville continued

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Speaker 1: her scientific work after her husband and son died in

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Speaker 1: eighteen sixty and eighteen sixty five, respectively. She wrote Physical Geography,

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Speaker 1: which was published in eighteen forty eight. Another notable work

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Speaker 1: of hers was One a Molecular in Microscopic Science, which

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Speaker 1: was basically outdated by the time it was published in

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Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine. Mary died at her home in Italy

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Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy two. The next year, her autobiography was released.

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Speaker 1: I'm Eves Jeffcote and hopefully you know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you have

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Speaker 1: a burning questions, you can send them to us on Facebook,

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Speaker 1: Twitter or Instagram at t D I h C Podcast,

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Speaker 1: and if you would prefer, you can send them to

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Speaker 1: us via email at this Day at I heart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you

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Speaker 1: here again same time tomorrow. Hello, and welcome to This

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Speaker 1: Day in History class, a show that rolls the dice

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Speaker 1: on history seven days a week. I'm Gay Bluesier, and

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Speaker 1: today we're talking about one of the most feared gangsters

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Speaker 1: in American history and how he got involved in the

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Speaker 1: legendary Flamingo Hotel. The day was December nineteen. Notorious gangster

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Speaker 1: Benjamin Bugsy Siegel opened the glamorous Flamingo Hotel and Casino

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Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, Nevada. The grand opening featured entertainment by

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Speaker 1: singer and comedian Jimmy Durant with music by Cuban bandleader

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Speaker 1: Xavier Kuga. The event was attended by some of Siegel's

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Speaker 1: famous Hollywood friends, including actors Clark Gable, George Sanders, and

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Speaker 1: Joan Crawford. Despite the glitzy guest list, the hotel's opening

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Speaker 1: weekend was a total bust, and the fallout from that

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Speaker 1: failure ultimately caused Siegel his life. Benjamin Siegel was born

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Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, New York, on February nineteen o six. He

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Speaker 1: got involved with neighborhood crime as a teenager and eventually

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Speaker 1: partnered with future Mob Syndicate leader Meyer Lanski. The pair

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Speaker 1: formed a criminal gang on Manhattan's Lower East Side called

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Speaker 1: the Bugs and Meyer Mob. They mostly dealt in bootlegging,

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Speaker 1: but eventually the gang joined forces with the Syndicate, a

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Speaker 1: unified group of mobsters from the city's various national gangs.

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Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenties, Siegel made a name for himself

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Speaker 1: as one of the founding members of Murder Incorporated, the

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Speaker 1: so called enforcement branch of the Syndicate. In his role

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Speaker 1: as a hitman, he allegedly murdered more than thirty people

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Speaker 1: and orchestrated the killings of countless others. Fellow gang members

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Speaker 1: gave Siegel the nickname Bugsy because they said his quick

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Speaker 1: and vicious temper often made him act quote crazy. As

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Speaker 1: a bedbug, Siegel hated the name because it reminded him

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Speaker 1: of the poverty he had experienced as a child. Anyone

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Speaker 1: who dared call him Bugsy to his face quickly came

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Speaker 1: to regret it. By the mid nineteen thirties, Murder Inc.

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Speaker 1: Had attracted enough heat that Lansky had to send Siegel

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Speaker 1: out of town. The displaced mobster set up shop in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles, where he helped expand the syndicate drug trade.

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Speaker 1: Siegel had no problem adapting to a West Coast lifestyle.

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Speaker 1: He began hosting lavish parties at his mansion in Beverly

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Speaker 1: Hills and befriended celebrities like Carrie Grant and Virginia Hill,

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Speaker 1: an actress who later followed Siegel to Las Vegas. In

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Speaker 1: the early nineteen forties, Vegas wasn't the tourist destination we

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Speaker 1: know it as today. What would later become the iconic

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas Strip was simply Highway ninety one at the time.

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Speaker 1: The change began in ninety one with the opening of

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Speaker 1: the l Rancho Vegas Resort and then the Last Frontier

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Speaker 1: Resort a year later. Both establishments offered deluxe accommodations, top

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Speaker 1: tier entertainment, and of course, legalized gambling. It was the

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Speaker 1: latter in particular that caught the attention of the mob

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Speaker 1: in Landsky sent Siegel to survey the prospect of building

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Speaker 1: their own hotel in casino in downtown Vegas. When he arrived,

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Speaker 1: Siegel liked what he saw and quickly purchased a six

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollar steak in the l Cortes Hotel on

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Speaker 1: Fremont Street. Meanwhile, not far away, a man named Billy

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Speaker 1: Wilkerson was trying to build a new resort on Highway nine.

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Speaker 1: As the founder of the Hollywood Reporter and the owner

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Speaker 1: of several popular nightclubs in l A's Sunset Strip, Wilkerson

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Speaker 1: wanted to bring the glamour of Hollywood and Europe to

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas. Unlike the other resorts, this one wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: themed to the Western frontier. Instead, it would have a

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Speaker 1: cosmopolitan style, complete with an upscale restaurant, a Monte Carlo

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Speaker 1: style French casino, and be days in all the bathrooms.

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Speaker 1: The only problem was that Wilkerson's vision far exceeded his wallet.

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Speaker 1: The high cost of building materials immediately following World War

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Speaker 1: Two depleted his bank account faster than expected. That's when

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Speaker 1: Bugsy Siegel and the New York Mob stepped in to

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Speaker 1: lend a hand. Siegel sold his steak in the l

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Speaker 1: Cortez then pulled his profits with the syndicates money and

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Speaker 1: delivered a one million dollar loan to Wilkerson. The arrangement

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Speaker 1: didn't last long, however, with Wilkerson soon deciding that it

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Speaker 1: was safer to just sell his steak in the resort

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Speaker 1: rather than stay in business with the mob. Siegel took

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Speaker 1: control of the project and immediately started making changes to

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Speaker 1: the blueprints. He tweaked the design to better resemble the

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Speaker 1: resorts in Havana, Cuba, where Lansky and the syndicate had

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Speaker 1: been investing. There's a long standing rumor that Siegel named

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Speaker 1: the resort after his Hollywood girlfriend, Virginia Hill, whose nickname

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Speaker 1: was the Flamingo on account of her red hair and

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Speaker 1: long legs. It's true that was her nickname, and the

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Speaker 1: actress certainly spent a lot of time at the casino. However,

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Speaker 1: Billy Wilkerson had been using the Flamingo name well before

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Speaker 1: Siegel and Hill came into the picture. Apparently the shared

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Speaker 1: Flamingo nickname was pure coincidence. Siegel relished his role as supervisor,

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Speaker 1: but he wasn't very good at it. Construction dragged on

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Speaker 1: and went millions of dollars over budget, leading his partners

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Speaker 1: in New York to wonder if Siegel was skimming money

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Speaker 1: from the project. He kept them at bay by promise

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Speaker 1: major profits that would more than make up for the

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Speaker 1: money spent, but unfortunately for him, that big money never came.

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Speaker 1: After months of hype, the Flamingo finally opened on December,

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Speaker 1: but almost nothing when as planned, Siegel had reserved multiple

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Speaker 1: private planes to fly in a list celebrities like Lucille Ball,

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Speaker 1: Ava Garner, and Veronica Lake. However, due to bad weather,

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Speaker 1: most of the guests stayed home. To make matters worse,

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Speaker 1: the majority of the hotel rooms were unfinished, so even

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Speaker 1: though twenty eight thousand people came to the Flamingos opening weekend,

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Speaker 1: most of them had to find a room somewhere else,

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Speaker 1: and they took their winnings with them. As a result,

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Speaker 1: the casino ultimately lost between three hundred thousand and five

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars during its first week of operation. The

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Speaker 1: response was so bad ad that within a month of opening,

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Speaker 1: the Flamingo ran out of cash and had to close down. Amazingly,

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Speaker 1: Lansky went to bat for his old friend and was

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Speaker 1: able to convince the other syndicate leaders to give Siegel

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Speaker 1: a second chance. After borrowing money from his fellow mobsters,

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Speaker 1: Siegel made some renovations and reopened the resort in March

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Speaker 1: of nine, this time calling it the Fabulous Flamingo. Things

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Speaker 1: went better the second time around, and by April the

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Speaker 1: hotel had finally turned a profit. Sadly, the turnaround came

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Speaker 1: too late to save either Siegel's reputation or his life.

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Speaker 1: To the syndicate, the hotel's newfound success was further proof

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Speaker 1: that Siegel hadn't been straight with them in the first place.

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Speaker 1: They were convinced that he had pocketed money from the

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Speaker 1: project and then lied about the hotel's troubles to account

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Speaker 1: for what he stole. The exact details of what happened

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Speaker 1: next are unknown, but it's widely believed that Siegel's partners

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Speaker 1: had him killed for his alleged betrayal. What we know

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Speaker 1: for certain is that on June twenty, an unknown gunman

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Speaker 1: shot and killed Siegel as he sat reading the newspaper

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Speaker 1: in Virginia Hills living room in Beverly Hills, a few

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Speaker 1: minutes after the hit, three syndicate leaders strolled into the

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Speaker 1: lobby of the Fabulous Flamingo and assumed control of the

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Speaker 1: whole operation. Despite its checkered past, the Flamingo continued to

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Speaker 1: rake in cash for the syndicate and helped establish a

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Speaker 1: new standard for over the top luxury in Las Vegas.

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Speaker 1: Its success inspired further investment in the city, and pretty

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Speaker 1: soon the modern Las Vegas Strip was born. As for

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Speaker 1: the Flamingo, it changed hands several times over the years

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Speaker 1: and is currently owned and operated by Caesar's Entertainment. Nothing

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Speaker 1: remains of the original architecture, with the last of its

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Speaker 1: original structures being demolished in It said that Seagull's private suite,

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Speaker 1: including his bulletproof glass and secret escape tunnel, was among

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Speaker 1: the last things to be destroyed, like the Ship of Theseus.

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Speaker 1: Even though the original Flamingo is long gone, its present

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Speaker 1: form is still considered the oldest operating hotel and casino

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Speaker 1: on the Las Vegas Strip. Today, management tends to downplay

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Speaker 1: the resort's connection to a ruthless killer, and understandably so,

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Speaker 1: but they haven't completely forgotten their founder either. Bugsy's bar

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Speaker 1: inside the Flamingo still churns out cocktails in his honor,

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Speaker 1: and if you look hard enough, you'll find a plaque

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Speaker 1: dedicated to him in the hotel garden. Siegel's legacy is

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Speaker 1: bathed in blood and neon light, sickening and captivating at

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Speaker 1: the same time time. All laid out, it doesn't make

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Speaker 1: for the prettiest view, but it's a perfect fit for

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Speaker 1: Sin City. I'm Gabe Louisier and hopefully you now know

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Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if

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Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, you can always write

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Speaker 1: to us at this Day at i heart media dot com.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks

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Speaker 1: to you for listening. I'll see you back here again

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Speaker 1: tomorrow for another Day in History class. For more podcasts

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Speaker 1: for my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.