James "Big Jim" O'Brien (born 1871)

In 1871, in the year that James "Big Jim" O'Brien was born, on July 20th, British Columbia became the 6th province of Canada. While Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia, Victoria was chosen as the capital..

In 1882, on January 5th, writer and lawyer Charles J. Guiteau was found guilty of the assassination of President Garfield. Guiteau was "offended" because his job applications had been rejected by Garfield's government. He was sentenced to death -although his lawyer plead insanity - and hanged five months later, on June 30th.

In 1903, the book The Souls of Black Folk, written by W. E. B. Du Bois, was published. Containing several essays on the African-American experience in America, much of the book was based on Du Bois' own life. The book was one of the very early works in the science of sociology.

In 1949, on April 4th, NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was established. Twelve nations originally signed the North Atlantic Treaty - the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Portugal. Greece, Turkey, and West Germany later joined. Today, there are 26 nations in NATO.

In 1985, on March 7th, the song "We Are the World" was released as a charity effort to alleviate the African famine. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones. They were joined by 37 other famous singers in the recording studio and a phenomena had begun