Hi, I’m Sen, and this is Today in History – the series where you’ll learn about what happened on this day in years past. What’s more, you’ll practice your English listening skills and learn a few new words along the way.

Today’s historical events cover brave people challenging social standards, but also a deadly earthquake in China. If this sounds too heavy for you right now, come back to today’s events another time.

You’ll hear the events twice. First time through, don’t worry about understanding exactly what is being said. Just listen, and get used to the sounds and rhythm of the speech. Then, on the second time through, you can try and focus more on the words, phrases and their meaning.

Let’s begin. So, what happened today in history?

On July 28, 1902, First Nations artist Albert Namatjira was born in Australia. He became one of Australia’s greatest ever painters, popular around the world for his landscapes. Because of his fame, he and his wife were the first First Nations people to be given Australian citizenship, although restricted, in 1957. It took ten years for the government to give similar rights to the rest of the First Nations people.

On the same day in 1946, poet, author, human rights activist and feminist Fahmida Riaz was born in Meerut, India. She grew up in Pakistan, where she broke social taboos by writing about female desire, the female body and sexuality. Her liberal writing angered many at the time. In 1981, her work on a political magazine resulted in her exile to India for seven years.

On July 28, 1976, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the city of Tangshan, China. Within minutes, most of the buildings in Tangshan collapsed. More than 240,000 people were officially reported as dead, but many believe the figure was as high as 700,000.

Now, let’s have a second listen. Try focusing more on the meaning of the words this time. If there’s any you don’t understand, don’t worry. I’ll explain some of the difficult ones afterwards.

On July 28, 1902, First Nations artist Albert Namatjira was born in Australia. He became one of Australia’s greatest ever painters, popular around the world for his landscapes. Because of his fame, he and his wife were the first First Nations people to be given Australian citizenship, although restricted, in 1957. It took ten years for the government to give similar rights to the rest of the First Nations people.

On the same day in 1946, poet, author, human rights activist and feminist Fahmida Riaz was born in Meerut, India. She grew up in Pakistan, where she broke social taboos by writing about female desire, the female body and sexuality. Her liberal writing angered many at the time. In 1981, her work on a political magazine resulted in her exile to India for seven years.

On July 28, 1976, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the city of Tangshan, China. Within minutes, most of the buildings in Tangshan collapsed. More than 240,000 people were officially reported as dead, but many believe the figure was as high as 700,000.

Which words caught your attention? ‘Citizenship’ is the status of being recognized as a ‘citizen’ – a member of a country who has rights. Even though Albert Namatjira was given citizenship in Australia, it was restricted: he still wasn’t allowed certain rights and freedoms because he was a First Nations person. The term ‘First Nations’ describes people who were the first to live in a country. You may also hear the word ‘Indigenous’ used to mean this. You may know that being ‘liberal’ means being open to new ideas and not sticking with tradition. And, ‘exile’? This is when someone is forced to leave their country.

That’s it for today. But, I’ll be back tomorrow with another episode of Today in History.

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Episode notes:
 
citizenship: the status of being recognized as a citizen – a member of a country who has the rights of a free person 
First Nations: relating to a person or group of people who were the first to live in a country 
liberal: open to new ideas 
exiled: forced to leave the country