Every Day Is Special: Roosevelt

Showing posts with label Roosevelt. Show all posts

October 27 - Good Bear Day

Posted on October 27, 2021

This is an update of my post published on October 27, 2010:

Good Bear Day was created on the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26^th U.S. president, because teddy bears are named for him! Apparently a toy manufacturer heard about an incident in which Roosevelt treated a bear humanely (kindly, with consideration of suffering), and the manufacturer asked permission to name its new stuffed bear after the president's nickname, Teddy.

Since that time in the early 1900s, teddy bear has been synonymous with toy bear or stuffed bear.

So, Good Bear Day was celebrated on Teddy Roosevelt's birthday—but what was Good Bear Day?

It was a holiday created by a group who collected teddy bears and other stuffed animals to be distributed to sick, needy, or traumatized children and others in need of bear hugs - to make life just a little bit more bearable.

The organization accepted donations of new teddies or of previously loved bears, which were restored before being distributed to kids in need.

Celebrate teddies!

Read or sing “The Teddy Bear Picnic.” If the weather is nice, you could treat your teddies to a picnic!

Refurbish and donate stuffed animals that are mouldering in the corners of your house!

Or spiff up your teddy bears and proudly display them as a collection. Another way to decorate with teddy bears is to dress them according to season. Right now your teddies need some quickie Halloween costumes!

Draw or color some cuddly teddy bears. Instead of using real bear colors such as black or brown, try coloring a bear in colorful plaids or prints. You can make a bear drawing look like a teddy bear by showing some stitching or drawing buttons for eyes, too. Cute!
This looks like a teddy bear because of the seam lines
and especially the satiny-looking bow!

Here are some simple coloring pages.

Here is a much more complicated picture to color in. It's by Jan Brett, so you know it's great!

Here is a step-by-step lesson on drawing a bear.

And here is a more complicated step-by-step on drawing teddy bears.

Also on this date:

Independence Day in Turkmenistan

Independence Day in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Anniversary of the first U.S. expedition to observe a solar eclipse

President Teddy Roosevelt's birthday

Three-Z Day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

Comic book illustrator Jan Duursema's birthday

Flag Day in Greece

Anniversary of a
rare meteor strike

Birthday of urban renewal specialist Majora Carter

Black Cat Day

International Print Day

(Fourth Wednesday in October)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

November holidays
November birthdays
Historical anniversaries in November

December 31 - Happy Birthday, Selma Burke

Posted on December 31, 2018

SelmaBurke and her sculpture
of Booker T. Washington.

A member of the Harlem Renaissance movement...

A "people's sculptor"...

A creator of public art - art that should be made, art that elevates a community, art that helps us become our best...

A winner of the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award...

Almost a new-century baby!

Selma Burke was born in North Carolina on this date in 1900. Since the 20th Century started in 1901, being born on the very last day of 1900 places you squarely in the "turn of the century"!

As a child, Burke often played with the clay found along the riverbed near her home. She loved the feeling of squeezing and pinching the clay between her fingers, and she once said, "It was there in 1907 that I discovered me."

Like most parents, Burke's mom was worried that a career in art would not lend itself to a stable financial life, but Burke's grandma, a painter, encouraged her to develop her interest in sculpture. Still, Burke did the safe thing and got training as a nurse. When she moved to Harlem, she began to work as a private nurse...

...But she ALSO sculpted!

And look what she accomplished:

Selma Burke worked for the Works Progress Administration.

Her bust of Booker T. Washington was displayed in a Manhattan high school.

She traveled to Europe on a fellowship to study sculpture in Vienna, Austria.

She returned to Europe to study with a master sculptor in Paris, France.

She received a Master of Fine Arts degree plus several honorary doctorate degrees.

She founded several art schools and became an art teacher.

These extraordinary achievements certainly could not have been Burke's if she'd stuck to nursing!

A bit of controversy:

Selma Burke's bas-relief sculpture of President Franklin D. Roosevelt is thought by many people to have inspired the profile found on U.S. dimes. Some people even make the claim that the sculptor of the dime portrait, John R. Sinnock, "stole" or copied Burke's portrait.

Burke thought she deserved credit for the portrait on the dime, but Sinnock claimed he was not in any way influenced by Burke's work.

There are memes and articles and maybe even a book or two that don't even mention Sinnock or the controversy, but instead state flat-out that Burke sculpted the profile portrait used on the dime. And some of these memes (etc.) claim "Selma Burke never got credit for her portrait of FDR..."

According to the U.S. Mint, both Burke and Sinnock did live sittings with President Roosevelt.

Also, there are a LOT of differences between the two portraits. The proportions are quite different, so if Sinnock did copy Burke's work, he didn't do it very well.

What do you think?

Above, Burke's bas-relief sculpture of FDR.
Below, John R. Sinnock's sculpture,
which appears on United States dimes.

Also on this date:

Explorer Jacques Cartier's birthday

Anniversary of Ottawa becoming the capital of Canada

The last day of the year

New Year's Eve

Anniversary of a New Year's Eve party inside an iguanodon

Anniversary of a window tax in England

Hogmanay in Scotland

Ōmisoka in Japan

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

January 30 – Happy Birthday, FDR!

Posted on January 30, 2017

I could ask a bunch of questions with the same answer:

Who is one of the most revered presidents of all time? (Most praised, most important, most influential, most honored...)
Who is one of the most hated presidents of all time?
Who is one of the richest presidents?
Which president was most despised by rich people?
Who served as U.S. President longest?
Which U.S. President was the weakest, physically speaking?

Come on – there is no way that all of those questions could have the same answer! And of course, the secret is, it depends on who you ask...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was born on this date in 1882, grew up in a prominent (important) and wealthy family in New York. He went into politics but then was stricken with polio. That illness so weakened his legs, he had to rely on wheelchairs and braces and canes in order to get around. However, his personal victory over polio gave Roosevelt a kind of strength and optimism when faced with difficulties.

And when he won the presidency of the United States, in 1932, he had to face a lot of difficulties! The nation and the world were in the middle of the Great Depression. Later on in his presidency, the world plunged into World War II, and the U.S. was attacked by Japan.

FDR was bold with his depression-fighting policies, called the New Deal, and he radiated a kind of calm positivity in the face of being attacked and entering into the WWII. Those traits are a major reason why Roosevelt won a record four elections (although he died during his fourth term). And those traits are a big reason why FDR often ends up among the top five American Presidents. (On this list – which takes into consideration a bunch of other lists – he is ranked #2, higher than George Washington, even!)

But Roosevelt's bold moves to combat the depression also made the United States into more of a “mixed economy” than it had been, with capitalistic and socialistic aspects. In other words, a lot of jobs and monies were involved with privately-owned businesses and companies and corporations, but a lot of other jobs and monies were based on public programs – everything from government programs to build roads and bridges to government-run schools and parks. Some people with power and money hated that – they complained about high taxes, they complained about “redistribution of wealth,” they felt strongly that those that had money deserved money, and those who didn't should earn it with hard work rather than having any sort of safety net provided by society.

(Of course, a lot of people that don't have money CAN'T earn money with hard work. They are babies, or they face severe illness, or they are 80 years old, or or or...Enough said.)