A Focus on History: July 1 through July 7

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July 1

The largest military conflict in North American history begins when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pa.. The epic battle lasts three days with casualties from both sides totaling approximately 51,000 soldiers. The battle results in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of northern Virginia. – 1863.

At midnight, Hong Kong reverts back to Chinese rule in a ceremony attended by British prime minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles of Wales, Chinese president Jiang Zemin, and U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright. – 1997.

July 2

Africans on the Cuban schooner Amistad rise up against their captors, kill two crew members, and seize control of the ship, which had been transporting them to a life of slavery on a sugar plantation in Puerto Principe, Cuba. – 1839.

U.S. president James A. Garfield, who had been in office just less than four months, is shot by an assassin. Garfield lingered for 80 days before dying of complications from the shooting. – 1881.

The Lockheed aircraft carrying American aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan is reported missing near Howland Island in the Pacific. The pair was attempting to fly around the world. No trace of Earhart or Noonan ever was found. – 1937.

President Lyndon Johnson signs Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids employers and unions from discriminating on the basis of race, color, gender, nationality, or, religion. – 1964.

July 3

In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft. Two missiles were fired from the American warship. The aircraft was hit, and all 290 passengers aboard were killed. The U.S. Navy report blamed crew error caused by psychological stress on men who were in combat for the first time. In 1996, the U.S. agreed to pay $62 million in damages to the families of the Iranians killed in the attack. – 1988.

July 4

In Philadelphia, Pa., the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that eventually encouraged France’s intervention on behalf of the colonial Patriots. – 1776.

July 5

In the East End of London, revivalist preacher William Booth and his wife, Catherine, establish the Christian Mission, later known as the Salvation Army. Determined to wage war against the evils of poverty and religious indifference with military efficiency, Booth modeled his Methodist sect after the British army, labeling uniformed ministers as officers and new members as recruits. – 1865.

Dolly, the sheep, is the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell and is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. – 1996.

July 6

In Hartford, Conn., a fire breaks out under the big top of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, to kill 167 individuals and injure 682. The cause of the fire was unknown, but it spread at incredible speed, racing up the canvas of the circus tent. Within 10 minutes it was over, and some 100 children and 60 adults were dead. – 1944.

In Annapolis, Md., the United States Naval Academy admits women for the first time in its history with the induction of 81 female midshipmen. In May 1980, Elizabeth Anne Rowe became the first woman member of the class to graduate. Four years later, Kristine Holderied became the first female midshipman to graduate at the top of her class. – 1976.

July 7

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones begins “The March of the Mill Children”, when, accompanied part of the way by children. She walked from Philadelphia to president Theodore Roosevelt’s home on Long Island, N.Y. to protest the plight of child laborers. One of her demands: Reduce the children’s work week to 55 hours. – 1903.

Construction of the Hoover Dam begins. Over the next five years, a total of 21,000 men worked ceaselessly to produce what would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one of the largest man-made structures in the world. – 1930.

On the morning of July 7, 2005, bombs are detonated in three crowded London subways and one bus during the peak of the city’s rush hour. The synchronized suicide bombings, which are thought to be the work of al-Qaida, kills 56, including the bombers, and injures another 700. It is the largest attack on Great Britain since World War II. No warning was given. – 2005.

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