Today in “Hidden” History is a daily listing of important but little-known events illustrating the range of innovators, contributors, or incidents excluded from formal history lessons or common knowledge. Hidden history is intended not as an exhaustive review, but merely as an illustration of how popular narratives "hide" many matters of fundamental importance. Bookmark this page and check daily to quickly expand your knowledge. Suggest entries for Today in “Hidden” History by clicking the Contact Us link. Entries for April 29:
| Date | Type | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1890 | African American i nventor Henry Faulkner patents the ventilated show, thereby providing comfort and healthy feet to the world. Prior to Faulkner's invention, lack of ventilation inside of shoes caused foot problems suffered by people worldwide. Faulkner devised a method for placing holes in specific locations within the shoe, thus allowing for adequate circulation and greater comfort. Learn more. | |
| 1947 |  American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and professor Yusef Komunyakaa, original name in full James William Brown, Jr., is born in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Professor Komunyakaa is known for his autobiographical poems about race, the Vietnam War, and jazz and blues, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poems Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977–1989 (1993). From 1999 to 2005 Komunyakaa was chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and in 2006 he became Distinguished Senior Poet (later global Distinguished Professor of English) in the creative writing program at New York University. In addition to teaching and writing, Komunyakaa collaborated on several musical projects: with composer T.J. Anderson, he wrote librettos for the operas Slip Knot (2003), based on the historical testament of an enslaved African American man wrongly hanged for raping a white woman, and The Reincarnated Beethoven, based on a newspaper article about the self-image of a black teenager, among others. Learn more. | |
| 1992 |  An all-white jury in Los Angeles chose to acquit three of the four officers who beat Rodney King during a violent arrest in March of 1991, and could not agree on a verdict for the fourth officer, despite video evidence establishing their culpability. Learn more. |
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