nytimes.com

On September 16, 1893, the largest land run in history begins with more than 100,000 people pouring into the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma to claim(TAKE) valuable land that had once belonged to Native Americans. With a single shot from a pistol the mad dash began, and land-hungry pioneers on horseback and in carriages raced forward to stake their claims to the best acres.

Ironically, not many years before that same land had once been considered worthless desert. Early explorers of Oklahoma believed that the territory was too arid and treeless for white settlement, but several suggested it might be the perfect place to resettle Native Americans, whose rich and fertile lands in the southeast were increasingly coveted by Americans. The U.S. government later took this advice and began removing eastern tribes like the Cherokee and Choctaw to Oklahoma Territory in 1817. No more eager than the whites to leave their green and well-watered lands for the arid plains, some Native Americans resisted and had to be removed by force-most tragically, the 4,000 Cherokee who died during the brutal overland march known appropriately as the “Trail of Tears.”

For the complete article … go to the link below

history.com

1400 – Owain Glyndwr was proclaimed Prince of Wales after rebelling against English rule. He was the last Welsh-born Prince of Wales.

1620 – The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England. The ship arrived at Provincetown, MA, on November 21st and then at Plymouth, MA, on December 26th. There were 102 passengers onboard.

1630 – The village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston.

1782 – The Great Seal of the United States was impressed on document to negotiate a prisoner of war agreement with the British. It was the first official use of the impression.

1810 – The Mexicans began a revolt against Spanish rule. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest of Spanish descent, declared Mexico’s independence from Spain in the small town of Dolores.

1893 – The “Cherokee Strip” in Oklahoma was swarmed by hundreds of thousands of settlers.

1908 – General Motors was founded by William Crapo “Billy” Durant. The company was formed by merging the Buick and Olds car companies.

1924 – Jim Bottomley knocked in 12 runs in a single game setting a major league baseball record.

1940 – U.S. President Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which set up the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.

1940 – Samuel T. Rayburn of Texas was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He served for 17 years.

1941 – “The Arkansas Traveler” debuted on CBS Radio. The show was later renamed “The Bob Burns Show.”

1953 – “The Robe” premiered at the Roxy Theater in New York. It was the first movie filmed in the wide screen CinemaScope process.

1953 – The St. Louis Browns of the American League were given permission to move to Baltimore, MD, where they became the Baltimore Orioles.

1963 – “The Outer Limits” premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 – “The Dean Martin Show” debuted on NBC-TV.

1968 – “The Andy Griffith Show” was seen for the final time on CBS.

1972 – “The Bob Newhart Show” premiered on CBS-TV.

1974 – U.S. President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for draft-evaders and deserters during the Vietnam War.

1976 – The Episcopal Church formally approved women to be ordained as priests and bishops.

1982 – In west Beirut, the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children began in refugee camps of the Lebanese Christian militiamen.

1985 – The Communist Party in China announced changes in leadership that were designed to bring younger officials into power.

1987 – The Montreal Protocol was signed by 24 countries in an effort to save the Earth’s ozone layer by reducing emissions of harmful chemicals by the year 2000.

1990 – An eight-minute videotape of an address by U.S. President George H.W. Bush was shown on Iraqi television. The message warned that action of Saddam Hussein could plunge them into a war “against the world.”

1994 – Exxon Corporation was ordered by federal jury to pay $5 billion in punitive damages to the people harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. 

1994 – Two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery went on the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years. 

1998 – Universal paid $9 million for the rights to the Dr. Seuss classics “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”

1998 – Meryl Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1620 – The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England. The ship arrived at Provincetown, MA, on November 21st and then at Plymouth, MA, on December 26th. There were 102 passengers on board.

1893 – The “Cherokee Strip” in Oklahoma was swarmed by hundreds of thousands of settlers aka white people

1990 – An eight-minute videotape of an address by U.S. President George H.W. Bush was shown on Iraqi television. The message warned that the action of Saddam Hussein could plunge them into a war “against the world.”

1994 – Exxon Corporation was ordered by federal jury to pay $5 billion in punitive damages to the people harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill.

1994 – Two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery went on the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years.

1775 – An early and unofficial American flag was raised by Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Mott after the seizing of Fort Johnson from the British. The flag was dark blue with the white word “Liberty” spelled on it.

1776 – British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.

1789 – The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State. 

1821 – Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador proclaimed independence.

1853 – Reverend Antoinette Brown Blackwell was ordained becoming first female minister in the United States.

1857 – Timothy Alder earned a patent for the typesetting machine.

1858 – The first mail service begins to the Pacific Coast of the U.S. under government contract. Coaches from the Butterfield Overland Mail Company took 12 days to make the journey between Tipton, MO and San Francisco, CA.

1883 – The University of Texas at Austin opened.

1909 – A New York judge rule that Ford Motor Company had infringed on George Seldon’s patent for the “Road Engine.” The ruling was later overturned.

1909 – Charles F. Kettering applied for a patent on his ignition system. His company Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company) later became a subsidiary of General Motors.

1916 – During the Battle of the Somme, in France, tanks were first used in warfare when the British rolled them onto the battlefields.

1917 – Alexander Kerensky proclaimed Russia to be a republic.

1923 – Oklahoma was placed under martial law by Gov. John Calloway Walton due to terrorist activity by the Ku Klux Klan. After this declaration national newspapers began to expose the Klan and its criminal activities.

1928 – Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic penicillin in the mold Penicillium notatum.

1935 – The Nuremberg Laws were enacted by Nazi Germany. The act stripped all German Jews of their civil rights and the swastika was made the official symbol of Nazi Germany.

1940 – The German Luftwaffe suffered the loss of 185 planes in the Battle of Britain. The change in tide forced Hitler to abandon his plans for invading Britain.

1949 – “The Lone Ranger” premiered on ABC. Clayton Moore was the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels was Tonto.

1950 – U.N. forces landed at Inchon, Korea in an attempt to relieve South Korean forces and recapture Seoul.

1953 – The National Boxing Association adopted the 10-point scoring system for all of its matches.

1955 – Betty Robbins became the first woman cantor.

1959 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev arrived in the U.S. to begin a 13-day visit.

1961 – The U.S. resumed underground testing of nuclear weapons.

• 1963 Church bombed in Birmingham AL, kills 4 African-American girls

1965 – “Lost in Space” premiered on CBS TV.

1965 – “Green Acres” premiered on CBS TV.

1971 – Greenpeace was founded.

1978 – Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks to win his 3rd World Heavyweight Boxing title.

1982 – The first issue of “USA Today” was published.

1983 – The U.S. Senate joined the U.S. House of Representatives in their condemning of the Soviet Union for shooting down a Korean jet with 269 people onboard.

1990 – France announced that it would send an additional 4,000 soldiers to the Persian Gulf. They also expelled Iraqi military attaches in Paris.

1993 – The FBI announced a new national campaign concerning the crime of carjacking.

1994 – U.S. President Clinton told Haiti’s military leaders “Your time is up. Leave now or we will force you from power.”

1995 – The U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing.

1997 – The domain name “google.com” was registered.

1998 – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Iranian military to be on full alert and massed troops on its border with Afghanistan.

1998 – It was announced that 5.9 million people read The Starr Report on the Internet. 606,000 people read the White House defense of U.S. President Clinton.

1999 – The United Nations approved the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor.

2003 – In Independence, MO, the birthplace of Ginger Rogers was designated a local landmark. The move by the Independence City Council qualified the home for historic preservation.

2012 – Legoland Malaysia opened in Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia.