Like any style of music, hip hop has roots in other forms, and its evolution was shaped by many artists, but there’s a case to be made that it came to life precisely on August 11, 1973, at a birthday party in the recreation room of an apartment building in the west …read more

The 1964 Elizabeth, New Jersey uprising lasted from August 11 to 13. The three-day uprising occurred simultaneously with a separate clash in nearby Paterson, New Jersey.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) both uprising, was the aftershocks of the larger uprisings in New York City, New York (July 18-23), Rochester, New York (July 24-25) and Jersey City, New Jersey (August 2-4).

The Elizabeth uprising began on the night of August 11 when three or four carloads of young African Americans began throwing Molotov cocktails and other projectiles at stores and businesses in the waterfront area along the Hudson River setting off fires. The violence lasted for approximately an hour and Elizabeth city officials believed that this incident was not necessarily racially motivated. One man was arrested and another was injured. Three buildings were set on fire by Molotov cocktails and two other nearby buildings were damaged as the flames spread.

The following night violence erupted again as approximately 700 African Americans took to the streets. This time there were battles between rioters and city police with the rioters using Molotov cocktails, bricks, stones, and other projectiles. The violence finally subsided by 3:00 a.m. on August 13. Over the rest of the day there were sporadic mostly minor incidents but the worst of the violence had subsided. By the end of August 13, 18 people had been arrested.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) inquiry seemed to concur, citing “school dropouts,” “young punks,” “common hoodlums” and “drunken kids” as the ones responsible for the outbreak of violence. However, African American community leaders in Elizabeth saw the situation differently, citing high unemployment, poverty, discrimination, and the treatment of blacks by the police as the causes of the unrest.

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1860 – The first successful silver mill in America began operations. The mill was in Virginia City, NV.

1874 – A patent for the sprinkler head was given to Harry S. Parmelee.

1877 – The two moons of Mars were discovered by Asaph Hall, an American astronomer. He named them Phobos and Deimos.

1896 – Harvey Hubbell received a patent for the electric light bulb socket with a pull-chain.

1909 – The American ship Arapahoe became the first to ever use the SOS distress signal off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC.

1921 – Alex Haley, author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X is born on this day in Ithaca, New York.

1924 – Newsreel pictures were taken of U.S. presidential candidates for the first time.

1934 – Alcatraz, in San Francisco Bay, received federal prisoners for the first time.

1941 – The Atlantic Charter was signed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

1942 – During World War II, Pierre Laval publicly announced “the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war.”

1945 – The Allies informed Japan that they would determine Emperor Hirohito’s future status after Japan’s surrender.

1951 – The first major league baseball game to be televised in color was broadcast. The Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves 8-1.

1954 – Seven years of fighting came to an end in Indochina. A formal peace was in place for the French and the Communist Vietminh.

1962 – Andrian Nikolayev, of the Soviet Union, was launched on a 94-hour flight. He was the third Russian to go into space.

1965 – The U.S. conducted a second launch of “Surveyor-SD 2” for a landing on the Moon surface test.

1965 – Watts Riots begin The five days of violence left 34 dead, 1,032 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested, and $40 million worth of property destroyed.

1971 – Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins got

1975 – The U.S. vetoed the proposed admission of North and South Vietnam to the United Nations. The Security Counsel had already refused to consider South Korea’s application.

1984 – Carl Lewis won his fourth gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics.

1984 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan was preparing for his weekly radio broadcast when, during testing of the microphone, the President said of the Soviet Union, “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that I just signed legislation that would outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” -a joke ?

1984 – The Cincinnati Reds honored major league All-Star and Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench by retiring his uniform (#5).

1988 – Dick Thornburgh was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the next attorney general. He succeeded Edwin Meese III.

1990 – Egyptian and Moroccan troops joined U.S. forces in Saudia Arabia to help protect from a possible Iraqi attack.

1991 – The space shuttle Atlantis ended its nine-day journey by landing safely.

1992 – In Bloomington, MN, the Mall of America opened. It was the largest shopping mall in the United States.

1994 – The Tenth International Conference on AIDS ended in Japan. 

1994 – A U.S. federal jury awarded $286.8 million to about 10,000 commercial fishermen for losses as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. 

1995 – All U.S. nuclear tests were banned by President Clinton.

1997 – U.S. President Clinton made the first use of the line-item veto approved by Congress, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills.

1998 – British Petroleum became No. 3 among oil companies with the $49 billion purchase of Amoco. It was the largest foreign takeover of a U.S. company.

2003 – Charles Taylor, President of Liberia, flew into exile after ceding power to his vice president, Moses Blah.

2003 – In Kabul, NATO took command of the 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.