With lyrics altered to reflect the country, “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean” is called “Britannia, the Pride of the Ocean.”
Written by Englishmen David T. Shaw and Thomas a Becket, the “Columbia” version (referring to an alternate name for the United States) was first published in 1843 under the name “Columbia, the Land of the Brave”; “Land of the Brave” was later changed to “Gem of the Ocean.”
The Hotel Pennsylvania was located at Seventh Avenue and Thirty-third Street in Manhattan. It was built in 1918. The phone number Pennsylvania 6-5000 was that of the hotel’s Club Rouge, where Miller and his band often appeared. The hotel is now the New York Penta Hotel.
The oldest legal code, the Code of Hammurabi was developed circa 1950 B.C. during the reign of Babylonian leader Hammurabi. It is now known for its emphasis on the law of retaliation (an eye for an eye).
The women’s rights group, the National Organization for Women, was founded in 1966 by Betty Friedan. Friedan was author of the 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique.
Explorer John Cabot was Italian. Born Giovanni Caboto in Genoa, Italy (c. 1450), he sailed under the English flag. He appears to have reached Newfoundland in 1497, a year before Columbus reached the American mainland. Cabot was lost at sea in 1498.
In alphabetical order, the executive departments are: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.
The leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, was born Elijah Poole in 1897 near Sandersville, Georgia. He took over leadership of the Muslim sect (founded in Detroit in 1930 and commonly known as the Black Muslims) in 1934, expanding its reach and advocating black separatism until his death in 1975.