Herbert Jones Johnston (1857 - 1931)

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

In 1857, in the year that Herbert Jones Johnston was born, on March 6th, the US Supreme Court ruled that Blacks were not citizens and that slaves couldn't sue for freedom. The case was known as Dred Scott v. Sandford. It further divided the country and added to the forces that created the Civil War. It wasn't overturned until the 14th Amendment became law in 1868.

In 1863, by the time he was just 6 years old, on January 1st, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation made the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states an official war goal. It also immediately freed 50,000 slaves, with the rest freed as Union armies advanced into Confederate states. The Proclamation wasn't a Congressional law - it was an Executive Order.

In 1872, when he was merely 15 years old, on May 10th, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to be nominated for President of the United States. She was too young to qualify for President - a year under the minimum age, 35 - and women couldn't vote but she was nominated by the Equal Rights Party, which supported equal rights and suffrage for women. She didn't appear on the official ballot.

In 1910, Herbert was 53 years old when Thomas Edison introduced his kinetophone, which he hoped would make "talkies" a reality. But the sound wasn't synchronized to the pictures and only 45 Kinetophones were made.

In 1931, in the year of Herbert Jones Johnston's passing, in March, “The Star Spangled Banner” officially became the national anthem by congressional resolution. Other songs had previously been used - among them, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", "God Bless America", and "America the Beautiful". There was fierce debate about making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem - Southerners and veterans organizations supported it, pacifists and educators opposed it.