Happy Birthday, Kit!

On this day in 1923 Margaret Mildred Kittredge was born! (Though we all know that she goes by Kit.) If Kit were alive today she would be turning 93 years old, and I so want to believe that spunky Kit would be alive and hopping in 2016, telling her great-grandchildren stories about living through the Depression, Cincinnati Reds games that she attended, and international stories that she wrote about on as a world famous reporter. 

What a life 93 year old Kit would have had too! Kit not only would have lived through the depression as a young girl in Ohio, but through World War II in her late teens and early 20s. I feel like Kit would have been the perfect model for the iconic "We Can Do It" poster. 

She would have seen the first full length animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premier in 1939. Kit would have been cheering in front of the radio, or perhaps right at the stadium, as Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball in April of 1947. She might have owned one of the first Polaroid cameras. 

Kit could have reported on the Cold War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam Wars, bringing stories of the horrors that happened overseas back to America through her written words and photography. It's possible that she would have been there to witness huge historical events in the Civil Rights movement such as the march in Salem and Dr. King's "I have a Dream" speech. She would have watched as man first walked on the moon, and the tragedy of the Challenger's explosion. 

She would have experienced the British Invasion as The Beatles came to the US, and might have danced around with her children instead of shaking her head in wonder like many of her generation were doing. She would have seen the founding of Apple, and might be better at navigating her iPad than many who are decades younger than she is. Yes, Kit's life would have been an amazing one! And if anyone was going to enjoy it to the fullest it would have been Kit. 

Happy birthday, Kit! 

Don't forget to check out my post about The Birthday Project. It's a very fun way to learn about American history that happened during Kit's lifetime, and how she might have reacted to it.