Selma Skoog (1883 - 1975)

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

In 1883, in the year that Selma Skoog was born, on July 4th, the first rodeo in the world was held in Pecos, Texas - according to its citizens. In the towns of Prescott and Payson Arizona, the same claim is made. All of these were gatherings of local cowboys, showing off their skills - no matter who was first.

In 1896, when she was merely 13 years old, on May 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. By a vote of 7 to 1, the Court upheld state racial segregation laws, introducing the idea of "separate but equal" facilities for races.

In 1915, she was 32 years old when in May, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo. The Lusitania was a British passenger ship that was sailing from New York to Liverpool England. She sank in 18 minutes - 1,198 died and 761 survived. While travelers were the main casualty - and commodity - the Lusitania did carry wartime weapons. "Remember the Lusitania" became the rallying cry of World War 1.

In 1926, she was 43 years old when on November 15th, NBC was founded. It was the U.S.'s first major broadcast network. Ownership of the network was split between RCA (a majority partner at 50%), its founding corporate parent General Electric (which owned 30%), and Westinghouse (which owned the remaining 20%).

In 1975, in the year of Selma Skoog's passing, on September 5th, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme tried to assassinate President Ford in Sacramento, California. She failed when her gun wouldn't fire. President Ford escaped a second assassination attempt 17 days later on September 22 when Sarah Jane Moore tried to shoot him in San Francisco. A bystander saw her raise her arm, grabbed it, and the shot went wild.