Orelia Johnson (1893 - 1986)

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

In 1893, in the year that Orelia Johnson was born, on November 7th, the women of Colorado were given the right to vote via a state referendum. Fifty-five percent of voters turned out and the referendum passed with 35,798 voting in favor and 29,551 voting against.

In 1917, at the age of 24 years old, Orelia was alive when the U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in January. While they are U.S. citizens, Virgin Islanders are ineligible to vote for the President of the United States.

In 1957, when this person was 64 years old, on September 24th, the "Little Rock Nine" (nine African-American students) entered Little Rock High School. Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus had previously prevented the students from entering the school at the beginning of the term with the Arkansas National Guard - they blocked the door. President Eisenhower ordered federal troops - the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army - to guard the students and allow them entry.

In 1979, this person was 86 years old when on March 28th, a partial nuclear meltdown occurred at the power plant at Three Mile Island Pennsylvania. Radiation leaked into the environment, resulting in a rating of 5 on a scale of 7 ("Accident With Wider Consequences") . It ended up costing $1 billion to clean up the site.

In 1986, in the year of Orelia Johnson's passing, on January 28th, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch. All seven crew members died. The cause of the explosion was later found to be a failed O-ring. The O-ring failure was due to the unusually cold conditions at Cape Canaveral.