- 1452 – Ferdinand II of Aragon is born. He and his wife Isabella funded Columbus’ journey in 1492.
- 1867 – Lillian Wald is born. A pioneering nurse and social activist, she started American community nursing when she established the Henry Street Settlement in NYC.
- 1876 – The first discernible speech is transmitted over a telephone system when inventor Alexander Graham Bell summons his assistant in another room by saying, “Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.”
- 1898 – Josephine Grove Holloway is born. She founded the first unofficial Girl Scout troop for African American girls and worked for two decades to have her troops recognized by the Nashville Girl Scout Council.
- 1903 – Clare Booth Luce, playwright and politician, is born.
- 1906 – An explosion in a complex series of mines kills 1,060 in France.
- 1913 – Harriet Tubman dies of pneumonia at about age 91. She earned the nickname “Moses” for her role as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, Tubman volunteered as a cook and nurse but quickly became a scout and spy for the Union. In this role, she freed hundreds of slaves. She was buried with military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.
- 1917 – Turkish troops begin evacuation of Baghdad.
- 1928 – James Earl Ray is born.
- 1940 – Chuck Norris is born. I hear it was the doctor who cried.
- 1951 – FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner.
- 1959 – Tibetans surround the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation forces.
- 1964 – Simon and Garfunkel record the first version of “The Sound of Silence.”
- 1969 – James Earl Ray pleads guilty to killing Martin Luther King, Jr.
- 1972 – 3000 delegates and 5000 observers attend the first Black political convention in Gary, Indiana.
- 1982 – President Ronald Reagan declares sanctions against Libya.
- 1983 – Carrie Underwood is born.
- 1988 – Disco sensation Andy Gibb dies at age 30.
- 1997 – The PalmPilot is released.
- 2019 – Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashes just after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 on board.
