August 27 The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs on Krakatau, called Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited volcanic island west of Sumatra in Indonesia. Heard 3,000 miles away, the explosions throw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air, create 120-foot tsunamis, and kill 36,000 humans. Fine
The city of Aurora has been designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of 1,000 places in the United States that have seen history made by women. The action came after the Aurora Historical Society nominated Maud Powell, the 19th Century violinist from Aurora who rose above
August 13 After a three-month siege, Spanish forces under Hernán Cortés capture Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire. Cortés’ men leveled the city. – 1521. In an effort to stem the tide of refugees attempting to leave East Berlin, the communist government representatives of East Germany begin building the
We want to believe that more information will bring clarity, but we are experiencing just the opposite these days. Throughout all of this year, we’ve been deluged with data about a virus, but our overall level of understanding seems to have fallen precipitously, along with our ability to trust others,
August 6 At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electrocution in history is carried out against William Kemmler, who had been convicted of murdering his lover, Matilda Ziegler, with an axe. – 1890. At 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the
July 30 Two years after inserting “under God” into the pledge of allegiance, president Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a law officially declaring “In God We Trust” to be the Nation’s official motto, to replace E pluribus unum “Out of many, one,” used by the founding fathers – 1956. President Lyndon
July 23 In the early-morning hours of July 23, 1967, one of the worst riots in U.S. history breaks out on 12th Street in the heart of Detroit’s predominantly African-American inner city. By the time it was quelled four days later by 7,000 National Guard and U.S. Army troops, 43
July 16 U.S. president George W. Bush announces his plan for strengthening homeland security in the wake of the shocking September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.. Bush launches a massive overhaul of the Nation’s security, intelligence, and emergency-response systems through the creation of the
John Adams, who was graduated from Harvard College, was the husband of Abigail Smith Adams, and the father of six children, one of whom, John Quincy Adams, became president of the United States and served one term in the 1820s. John Adams was a lawyer, a farmer, and a revolutionary.
July 9 Two trains collide outside of Nashville, Tenn. and kill 101 and injure more than 100. Despite the high death toll, the story was mainly ignored by the national press most likely because the vast majority of the casualties were African Americans. – 1918. July 10 A powerful explosion
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
June 25 Native American forces, led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, defeat the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. – 1876. Fair Labor Standards Act passes Congress which bans child labor and sets the 40-hour
June 18 The War of 1812 begins in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seamen into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. – 1812. At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte
June 11 The Continental Congress selects Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York to draft a declaration of independence. – 1776. Five days after the D-Day landing, the five Allied landing groups, made up
June 4 The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee women the right to vote, is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. – 1919. Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, commander of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, launches a raid on Midway Island with almost
May 28 A 22-year-old lieutenant colonel of the Virginia militia named George Washington successfully defeats a party of French and Indian scouts in southwest Pennsylvania when Virginia attempts to lay claim to the territory for its settlers. The action snowballed into the Seven Years’ War and began the military career
May 21 In Washington, D.C., humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, an organization established to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters. – 1881. Connecticut becomes the first state to pass a law regulating motor vehicles by limiting their speed to
May 14 One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves St. Louis, Mo., on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. – 1804. In Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims
May 7 Martinique’s Mount Pele, near the city of Saint Pierre, begins the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century. The city of Saint Pierre was buried within minutes and virtually everyone died instantly. – 1902. The German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signs the unconditional
April 30 Representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France conclude negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, a massive land sale that doubles the size of the young American republic. What was known as Louisiana Territory comprised most of modern-day United States between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, with the
