Date with History: September 7

Dom Pedro cries independence by the Ipiranga, and a farm boy transmits the first TV image.

One paperback for one calendar date: what happened on September 7, and who was born on it.

What happened on September 7

1822: Dom Pedro declares Brazil independent at the Ipiranga

On the banks of the Ipiranga River, Prince Dom Pedro I received letters from Lisbon ordering him home and demanding Brazil return to colonial status. He drew his sword and shouted "Independence or Death!", a moment Brazilians know as the Grito do Ipiranga. Unlike most independence movements this one was largely bloodless, achieved by aristocratic declaration rather than revolutionary war, and September 7 is still Brazil's Independence Day.

1927: Philo Farnsworth transmits the first electronic TV image

In a San Francisco laboratory, twenty-one-year-old Philo T. Farnsworth transmitted the first all-electronic television image: a single straight line. One backer was unimpressed and reportedly asked when they would see some dollars in this thing. Farnsworth had conceived the idea at fourteen while plowing a potato field in Idaho, imagining images scanned in rows like furrows, and spent the decades afterward losing patent battles to RCA.

Famous birthdays on September 7

1533 — Elizabeth I
Henry VIII's unwanted daughter, who became the Virgin Queen and made England a global power.

1860 — Grandma Moses
Farm wife who took up painting at 78 when arthritis ended her needlework, and became a sensation.

Nearby dates

September 6 · September 8 · All September dates

Part of Date with History, a 366-book collection with one book for every date of the year. 5″×8″ paperback, cream paper.

Historical selections are editorially researched. This is a date-specific book, not a personalized or custom-made product.