20 September In History | Worksheets for Kids

1187 – The Siege of Jerusalem begins by the Muslim leader Saladin.
1873 – The New York Stock Exchange was forced to close for the first time in its history as a result of a banking crisis during the financial Panic of 1873.
1893 – The first gasoline-powered automobile is demonstrated.
1904 – Wilbur Wright makes the first circular flight. Wright, who with his brother Orville, is credited for inventing the first airplane, made a complete circle in 1 minute and 16 seconds on the Wright Flyer II.
1973 – The much-hyped “Battle of the Sexes” took place in the Houston Astrodome as tennis player and women’s rights activist, Billie Jean King, defeated self-styled male chauvinist Bobby Riggs in three straight sets. Riggs, a retired tennis champion, had been critical of the quality of women’s tennis.

1973 – Singer and songwriter Jim Croce is killed in a plane crash.
1984 – ‘The Cosby Show Airs’ for the first time. The popular television sitcom followed the lives of a Brooklyn-based African-American family called the Huxtables. The show ran for 8 years on NBC and was largely based on the stand up comedy of Bill Cosby, who played the role of Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable, the father in the show.
1989 – F.W. De Klerk was sworn in as president of South Africa. He began an era of reform aimed at ending apartheid and was succeeded by Nelson Mandela.
2001 – American President, George W. Bush declares War on Terror. The global military campaign against terrorism was first declared in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States. The phrase was used by President Bush in a speech given to the United States Congress.
2011 – The official US military policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” ends. The policy was instituted by the administration of Bill Clinton in 1994. Under the policy, openly gay personnel were not allowed to serve in the United States military, but they could serve as long as they did not reveal their LGBT status.

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