Moments in Time: How the Twinkie Was Born
The History Channel
On April 6, 1930, James Dewar needed a good way to occupy the Continental Baking Company’s shortcake-baking machinery while strawberries were out of season. Fortunately for generations of snackers to come, he tried shooting a cream filling into one of the shortcakes, and the iconic Twinkie (the name was inspired by a billboard ad for Twinkle Toe Shoes) was born.
On April 7, 1940, Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be honored with a postage stamp bearing his likeness. It would be almost another 40 years before an African American woman -- human rights activist Harriet Tubman -- would receive the same recognition.
On April 8, 1993, astronaut Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman in space when the shuttle Discovery lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center. Later she also served as Director of the Johnson Space Center, the first Hispanic director and the second woman to hold that position, from 2013 to 2018.
On April 9, 1945, Berlin University lecturer, Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at Flossenburg concentration camp in Germany, just days prior to its liberation by American soldiers. His final words were, “This is the end -- for me, the beginning of life.”
On April 10, 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was founded in New York City by philanthropist and diplomat Henry Bergh. By the time of his death in 1888, 37 of the 38 states in the Union had passed animal anti-cruelty laws.
On April 11, 2004, Phil Mickelson won the Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, his first major championship in nearly 12 years as a professional golfer.
On April 12, 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock,” which they’d been performing live for months, during the final 40 minutes of a three-hour recording session in New York City that had actually been set up for a song called “Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town).” After the tune was chosen to play over the opening credits of the film “Blackboard Jungle,” it became a pop sensation, selling a million copies in one month in 1955.
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