Music intertwines with aspects of American social and cultural identity, including through social class, race and ethnicity, geography, religion, language, gender and sexuality. The relationship between music and race is perhaps the most potent determiner of musical meaning in the United States. The development of an African American musical identity, out of disparate sources from Africa and Europe, has been a constant theme in the music history of the United States. Little documentation exists of colonial-era African American music, when styles, songs and instruments from across West Africa commingled in the melting pot of slavery. By the mid-19th century, a distinctly African American folk tradition was well-known and widespread, and African American musical techniques, instruments and images became a part of mainstream American music through spirituals, minstrel shows and slave songs. African American musical styles became an integral part of American popular music through blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and then rock and roll, soul and hip hop; all of these styles were consumed by Americans of all races, but were created in African American styles and idioms before eventually becoming common in performance and consumption across racial lines. In contrast, country music derives from both African and European, as well as Native American and Hawaiian, traditions and yet has long been perceived as a form of white music.

• … that the maize weevil (pictured) is a serious pest of maize in the United States, and also infests standing crops and cereals in all tropical areas of the world?
• … that presidential advisor John P. Lewis argued that aid to developing nations was a necessary component of American foreign policy, despite the budgetary costs and the potential for misuse?
• … that in his dissenting opinion in the case of Taylor v. Beckham, U.S. Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that the right to hold elected offices should be considered part of the definition of “liberty” and protected by the Fourteenth Amendment?

Laura Lane Welch Bush (born Laura Lane Welch on November 4, 1946, in Midland, Texas) is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2009. She has held a love of books and reading since childhood and her life and education have reflected that interest. She graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in education and soon took a job as a second grade school teacher. After attaining her Master’s degree in Library Science at the University of Texas at Austin, she was employed as a librarian. She met George Walker Bush in 1977 and they were married later that year. The couple had twin daughters born to them in 1981.

Polled by Gallup as one of the most popular first ladies, Laura Bush was involved in topics of both national and global concern during her tenure. She continued to advance her trademark interests of education and literacy by establishing the semi-annual National Book Festival in 2001 and encouraged education on a worldwide scale. She also advanced women’s causes through The Heart Truth and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She represented the United States during her foreign trips, which tended to focus on HIV/AIDS and malaria awareness. In May 2010, Bush released her memoir, Spoken from the Heart, in conjunction with a national tour.

• 1818 – Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).
• 1841 – William Henry Harrison (pictured) dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President to die in office, and President with the shortest term served.
• 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
• 1949 – Twelve nations, led by the United States, sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
• 1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
• 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.