On this day in history: Foundation of the African National Congress, 1912

In May 1910 the Union of South Africa came into being as unitary state comprising the former colonies of Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal. The colonists in this new Union were of British and Dutch extraction and much effort was expended bringing these two cultures together. As a result the African population of the country became marginalised and even repressed by the new white hegemony.

Following the foundation of the Union, many African intellectuals felt that there was a need for a new national movement to represent the native peoples. Not least among these was the lawyer, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, who advised that representatives of all the ethnic groups should meet to discuss their common welfare. Consequently, on 8th January 1912, delegates from all four provinces as well as from Botswana met in Bloemfontein under the banner of unity.

The delegates included tribal chiefs, intellectuals, religious leaders and other representatives of the various ethnic groups. During the keynote address Semi declared,

Chiefs of royal blood and gentlemen of our race, we have gathered here to consider and discuss a theme which my colleagues and I have decided to place before you. We have discovered that in the land of their birth, Africans are treated as hewers of wood and drawers of water. The white people of this country have formed what is known as the Union of South Africa - a union in which we have no voice in the making of the laws and no part in their administration. We have called you therefore to this Conference so that we can together devise ways and means of forming our national union for the purpose of creating national unity and defending our rights and privileges.

He then went on to propose the establishment of the South African Native National Congress. The proposal was met with unanimous support. This body later became known as the African National Congress (ANC) that, after the troubled years of Apartheid, came to power in South Africa following the first universal suffrage elections of 1994.

The ANC website includes a number of documents about the history of the organisation.

On this day in history: First transatlantic telephone service, 1927

The earliest attempt at transatlantic telephony was in 1915 when the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (later known as AT&T) managed to transmit one-way voice signal between the Naval Wireless Station in Arlington, Virginia and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The limits of available technology and then the First World War brought an end to the experiments. Eight years later AT&T again demonstrated the feasibility of telephone calls between Europe and the United States by sending a speech signal from New York to New Southgate in London.

At that time the General Post Office (GPO) managed the British telephone system and its head, the Postmaster-General, was so impressed with the demonstration that he decided to cooperate with AT&T and the Western Electric Company to create a commercial transatlantic telephone service using radio signals. The GPO built a 200 kilowatt transmitter at the Post Office Station at Rugby and experiments began to improve transmission to such a point that it was commercially viable. Furthermore the telephone network infrastructure in Britain and the United States required substantial development.

In February 1926, the engineers achieved two-way voice communication between the two radio stations and a month later journalists gathered at the trunk exchanges in London and New York to take part in a demonstration of two-way voice communication. Finally, on 7th January 1927, the service opened with a call between Sir Evelyn Murray, the Secretary of the GPO and Walter S. Gifford, the president of AT&T, followed by calls between those subscribers who had booked calls for that day.

On this day in history: Parliament authorised the trial of Charles I, 1649

Following their victory over the forces of King Charles I during the civil wars, the New Model Army became the most powerful political body in Britain eclipsing Parliament, which created the army. In the summer of 1647, the New Model Army took possession of the King, who had been held by the Parliamentarians, and then occupied London. In December 1648, the Army again occupied London and soldiers commanded Colonel Pride and Colonel Rich took up positions at the Houses of Parliament to prevent those members that opposed the Army from taking their seats creating the Rump Parliament.

Since negotiations with the Crown had failed (partly due to Pride's Purge), the Army's leaders and other militants decided to put the Charles on trial. On 6th January 1649, the Rump Parliament passed an ordinance permitting the trial to be presided over by a commission of 135 men: the High Court of Justice. In spite of the House of Lords' rejection of the motion and the (obvious) lack of consent from the King, the trial went ahead later that month.