Louise Spurlock (1878 - 1967)

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

In 1878, in the year that Louise Spurlock was born, in Africa, the death of the last confirmed Cape lion occurred. The Cape lion was slightly larger than other lions and had black ears, a black mane, and black hair on its belly.

In 1883, at the age of just 5 years old, Louise was alive when from August 26th through August 27th, Krakatoa - in Indonesia - erupted. 70% of the island - 163 villages - were destroyed and more than 36,400 people were killed by the eruption and the tsunami resulting from it. It was one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions ever.

In 1894, by the time she was 16 years old, on April 21st, a coal miners' strike closed mines throughout the central United States. The Panic of 1893, and the resulting depression, hit coal miners hard and the miners only struck for 8 weeks - they couldn't afford to live without their wages any longer.

In 1914, Louise was 36 years old when in June, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Yugoslavian national. Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to Serbia. Other major powers took sides - and World War I began: Austria declared war on Serbia; Germany on Russia and France; Britain on Germany . . . and on it went until most of the world was embroiled in the war.

In 1967, in the year of Louise Spurlock's passing, on November 7th, President Johnson signed legislation passed by Congress that created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which would later become PBS and NPR. The legislation required CPB to operate with a "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature".