EVENTS
- 1682 – La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River.
- 1860 – The world’s first recording of the human voice is created. French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville used his phonautograph, the earliest known sound recording device, to capture himself singing the French folk song “Au clair de la lune”.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders.
Robert E. Lee surrenders - 1866 – Despite a veto by President Andrew Johnson, the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was passed by Congress granting blacks the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship.
- 1913 – The Brooklyn Dodgers’ Ebbets Field opens.
- 1940 – Germany invades Denmark and Norway. The rationale of Operation Weserübung was to secure access to Swedish iron ore. In Norway, a resistance group around Max Manus and Gunnar Sønsteby successfully sabotaged the German war effort.
- 1952 – The Bolivian National Revolution overthrows Hugo Ballivián’s government. The nationalist movement initiated radical reforms, including universal suffrage, the nationalization of tin mines, and the inclusion of previously marginalized ethnicities into national life.
- 1957 – The Suez Canal, Egypt, is opened to shipping.
- 1967 – The first Boeing 737 takes off on its maiden flight. The short-to-medium range plane is the best-selling airplane in history.
- 2005 – Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles. Charles was formerly married to Diana, Princess of Wales. His second marriage to Camilla made him the first member of the British Royal Family to have a civil wedding.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1898 – African-American actor and singer Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was born in Princeton, New Jersey
- 1963 – Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs - 1934 – Carl Perkins (Singer)
- 1945 – Steve Gadd (American drummer)
- 1954 – Dennis Quaid (Actor)
- 1954 – Iain Duncan Smith (Scottish captain, politician)
- 1957 – Seve Ballesteros (Golfer)
- 1964 – Margaret Peterson Haddix (Author of The Missing and Shadow Children)
- 1971 – Jacques Villeneuve (Canadian race car driver)
- 1975 – Robbie Fowler (English footballer, manager)
- 1990 – Kristen Stewart (Actress from Twilight)
DEATHS
- 1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German pastor, theologian)
- 1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright (American architect, designed the Price Tower, Fallingwater)
Frank Lloyd Wright - 1976 – Phil Ochs (American singer-songwriter, guitarist)
- 2005 – Andrea Dworkin (American activist, author)
- 2011 – Sidney Lumet (American director)
