On this day in ...... 1888 (120 years ago today), 39-year-old Bertha Benz drove on the 1st long-distance automobile trip. As depicted at left, she took her 2 teen-aged sons, in a prototype car designed by her husband, Karl Benz, and did so without the knowledge of her husband, Karl Benz. The 3 adventurers traveled 106 kilometers (about 66 miles), from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany, "return[ing] a
few days later without any any major incidents." (photo credit)... 1740, the British governor of Jamaica signed a "patent ... granting 500 acres of land to 'a certain Negro woman named Nanny and the people residing with her.'" That woman was Nanny of the Windward Maroons (right), who'd negotiated the grant in her role as leader of former slaves who'd found refuge on the Caribbean island. Nanny is the transnational foremother of IntLawGrrl Karen E. Bravo.
