Richard Robert Leonidas Cain (born 1843)

In 1843, in the year that Richard Robert Leonidas Cain was born, on January 31st, the Virginia Minstrels - also called the Virginia Serenaders - performed the first minstrel show. The whole troupe appeared in blackface. They were famous for the songs "Jimmy Crack Corn" and "Old Dan Tucker".

In 1880, on August 26th, P. T. Barnum and James A. Bailey signed a contract in Bridgeport, CT, creating the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Twenty-seven years later, the Barnum and Bailey would merge with another circus, Ringling Brothers.

In 1897, on July 17th, the Klondike Gold Rush began when the first successful prospectors returned to Seattle after mining in the Yukon. They arrived on the ships Excelsior and Portland, bringing vast quantities of gold - over $32,000,000 in today's money - and everyone rushed to become rich in the Yukon.

In 1906, Finland became the first European country to give women the vote and to allow them to run for political office. (Women in Australia and New Zealand already had that right but couldn't run for office.) Although Finland belonged to the Russian Empire, there was great unrest and the Tsar wanted to broker a quick peace. As a part of the brokered peace, women got the vote.

In 1958, on January 31st, Explorer I, the United States' answer to Sputnik I (and 2,) was launched. America had entered the Space Race. The first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt, it remained in orbit until 1970.