From Mutinies to Insurrections: This Week in History

April 27-May 1, 2026
With topics ranging from feminist philosophers to British mutinies, check out these book and video recommendations based on what happened in history this week!

April 27, 1759

Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie. She is a middle-aged woman with long white hair and white ribbon reading a book, with a quill in an ink well nearby.

Mary Wollstonecraft, writer and philosopher best known for her A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, is born in London. Although better known for her unconventional lifestyle while alive, her work in feminist thought will be her lasting legacy.

Learn more with KCKPL:

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley

A Life of One's Own: Nine Women Writers Begin Again

A Vindication of the Rights of Men; A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution

April 28, 1789

A painting of the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, with Captain William Bligh being set adrift with several other men on a small boat, while the mutineers crowd around on the main ship. Painting by Robert Dodd.

Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny against the captain of the HMS Bounty, setting him and several others adrift in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the mutineers are eventually apprehended, while Christian and some others live out their days undiscovered on Pitcairn Island.

Learn more with KCKPL:

The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty

Paradise in Chains: The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia

The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific

April 29, 1916

Irish Citizen Army photographed outside Liberty Hall in London. They're a set of a few dozen young men in military uniform standing outside a building with the sign

The Easter Rising takes place in Ireland, an armed insurrection against British rule that galvanizes public support of the movement. Rebels seize key buildings in Dublin and declare independence, an effort eventually shut down by the British military.

Learn more with KCKPL:

Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion

The Rising: Ireland--Easter 1916

1916: One Hundred Years of Irish Independence

April 30, 1789

Painting of the inauguration of George Washington by Ramon de Elorriaga. He is depicted taking the oath of office, with one hand over a book, while standing outside on a stone porch. Several other politicians are around him. People in windows in the background are waving American flags.

George Washington takes the oath of office as the first President of the United States. He was unanimously elected to the position, the only President for that to be the case.

Learn more with KCKPL:

"Mr. President": George Washington and the Making of the Nation's Highest Office

Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation

This Day in Presidential History

May 1, 1840

Block of six Penny Black stamps. There are six stamps in two rows, printed with black ink, with a side profile of Queen Victoria and the words

The Penny Black, the first adhesive public postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom. The new system proposed by Sir Rowland Hill simplifies and standardizes postage payment.

Learn more with KCKPL:

Cheap Postage

The World Encyclopedia of Stamps & Stamp Collecting

Images

Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft (John Opie)

The mutineers turning Lt Bligh and some of the officers and crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship Bounty, 29 April 1789 (Robert Dodd)

Irish Citizen Army photographed outside Liberty Hall in London

Inauguration of George Washington (Ramon Elorriaga)

Block of six Penny Black stamps

Post Type

Journal

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