Florence Light (1893 - 1984)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Florence's lifetime.

In 1893, in the year that Florence Light was born, a songbook, called Song Stories for the Kindergarten, was published by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill. One of the songs included in the book was "Good Morning to All" - later the lyrics were changed and it became "Happy Birthday to You".

In 1910, she was 17 years old when the Mann Act, also called the White-Slave Traffic Act, was signed into law. Its purpose was to make it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". But the language was so broad that it was also applied to consensual sex between adults when wished.

In 1965, at the age of 72 years old, Florence was alive when from August 11 to 16, riots broke out in Watts, a Black section of Los Angeles. An allegedly drunk African-American driver was stopped by LA police and, after a fight, police brutality was alleged - and the riots began. 34 people died in the rioting and over $40 million in property damage occurred. The National Guard was called in to help the LA police quell rioting.

In 1972, when she was 79 years old, on November 7th, Richard Nixon won re-election, amidst the dawning knowledge of the Watergate scandal, by 60.7% to anti-war candidate George McGovern's 37.5%.

In 1984, in the year of Florence Light's passing, due to outrage about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (it seemed too "dark" to many and it was rated PG), a new rating was devised - PG-13. The first film rated PG-13 was "Red Dawn".