1558 – Elizabeth I ascended the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary Tudor.

1603 – Sir Walter Raleigh went on trial for treason.

1796 – Catherine the Great of Russia died at the age of 67.

1798 – Irish nationalist leader Wolfe Tone committed suicide while in jail awaiting execution.

1800 – The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, DC, in the partially completed Capitol building.

1869 – The Suez Canal opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas.

1880 – The first three British female graduates received their Bachelor of Arts degrees from London University.

1903 – Russia’s Social Democrats officially split into two groups – Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

1904 – The first underwater submarine journey was taken, from Southampton, England, to the Isle of Wight.

1913 – The steamship Louise became the first ship to travel through the Panama Canal.

1913 – In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm banned the armed forces from dancing the tango.

1922 – Siberia voted for union with the U.S.S.R.

1962 – Washington’s Dulles International Airport was dedicated by U.S. President Kennedy.

1968 – NBC cut away from the final minutes of a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game to begin a TV special, “Heidi,” on schedule. The Raiders came from behind to beat the Jets 43-32.

1970 – The Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1. The vehicle was released by Luna 17.

1973 – U.S. President Nixon told an Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, FL, “people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”

1979 – Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the U.S.Embassy in Tehran.

1982 – The Empire State Building was added to the National Register of Historical Places.

1988 – Benazir Bhutto became the first woman leader of an Islamic country. She was elected in the first democratic elections in Pakistan in 11 years.

1990 – A mass grave was discovered by the bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand. The bodies were believed to be those of World War II prisoners of war.

1990 – The Soviet government agreed to change the country’s constitution.

1997 – 62 people were killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt. The attackers were killed by police.

1997 – Mario Lemieux was voted into the NHL Hall of Fame.

2001 – “Toys “R” Us Times Square – The Center of the Toy Universe” opened in New York City.

2006 – Sony’s PlayStation 3 went on sale in the United States.

2010 – Reasearchers trapped 38 antihydrogen atoms. It was the first time humans had trapped antimatter.

1960 U.S. marshals escort four six-year-old African-American girls to previously all-white public schools in New Orleans, in response to death threats against the girls and race riots

 1775 – During the American Revolution, U.S. forces captured Montreal.

1789 – Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to a friend in which he said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

1805 – Johann George Lehner, a Viennese butcher, invented a recipe and called it the “frankfurter.”

1894 – A. C. Richardson, a black inventor, invented the casket lowering device, patent#529,311 blackfacts.com

1913 – The first Black elected to the American College of Surgeons was Dr. Daniel Hale Williams who was also the first person to perform open heart surgery. blackfacts.com 

1927 – The Holland Tunnel opened to the public, providing access between New York City and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.

1933 – In Austin, MN, the first sit-down labor strike in America took place. 

1940 – On this day, the Supreme Court ruled in Hansberry v. Lee that whites can’t bar African Americans from white neighborhoods blackfacts.com

1940 – The Walt Disney movie “Fantasia” had its world premiere at New York’s Broadway Theater.
Disney movies, music and books

1942 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18.

1956 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses. 

1971 – The U.S. spacecraft Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars. 

1977 – The comic strip “Li’l Abner” by Al Capp appeared in newspapers for the last time.

1982 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC. 

1984 – A libel suit against Time, Inc. by former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon went to trial in New York.

1986 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly acknowledged that the U.S. had sent “defensive weapons and spare parts” to Iran. He denied that the shipments were sent to free hostages, but that they had been sent to improve relations.

1991 – Roger Clemens won his third Cy Young Award for the American League.

1994 – Sweden voted to join the European Union.

1995 – Greg Maddox (Atlanta Braves) became the first major league pitcher to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards.

1997 – Iraq expelled six U.N. arms inspectors that were U.S. citizens.

2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush signed an executive order that would allow for military tribunals to try any foreigners captured with connections to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. It was the first time since World War II that a president had taken such action. 

2006 – A deal was finalized for Google Inc. to acquire YouTube for $1.65 million in Google stock.

2009 – NASA announced that water had been discovered on the moon. The discovery came from the planned impact on the moon of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS).