July 21st
In 1853, Central Park in New York City is created when the NY legislature puts aside more than 750 acres of land on Manhattan.
In 1861, the first major battle of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run, begins and ends with a victory for the Confederacy.
In 1864, the first daily Black newspaper is published, the New Orleans Tribune.
The New Orleans Tribune - Wikipedia
In 1865, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.
In 1873, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the Old West.
In 1896, the National Federation of Colored Women is established in Washington, DC.
In 1907, the passenger steamer SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove CA. 88 people are killed.
In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson sends the third Lusitania note , warning Germany that future infringements of American rights will be deemed "deliberately unfriendly".
In 1918, the SM U-156 German submarine shells Nauset Beach in Orleans, MA, the only mainland attack of WWI.
In 1919, the dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.
In 1925, high school biology teacher John Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in his Dayton, TN, classroom and fined $100.
In 1944, the battle of Guam sees American forces land on the island.
In 1949, the Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.
In 1952, an earthquake of 7.3 magnitude strikes Southern California, killing 12 and injuring hundreds.
In 1959, the NS Savannah, the first nuclear powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as part of President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative.
In 1959, Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate.
In 1961, Gus Grissom, piloting the Liberty Bell 7 as part of the Mercury Program, becomes the second American in space.
In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon.
In 1974, The House Judiciary Committee approves two articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon.
In 1979, Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk actor, becomes the first Native American to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1983, American hostage David Dodge is freed.
In 1998, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and the fifth man to walk on the moon, died due to complications from leukemia.
In 1999, Navy Divers find and recover the bodies of JFK Jr., his wife, and his sister-in-law.
In 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle Program comes to an end with the landing of the Shuttle Atlantis at Cape Kennedy.
In 2012, Erden Eruc, a Turkish-American adventurer, completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.
In 2016, Dennis Green, former coach of the Minnesota Vikings and the third African American to be an NFL coach, died due to complications from cardiac arrest.
Notable birthdays:
Ernest Hemingway - 1899
Don Knotts - 1924
Janet Reno - 1938
Ken Starr - 1946
John J. Duncan, Jr. - 1947
Robin Williams - 1951
Jon Lovitz - 1957
Brandi Chastain - 1968
Lady Vol legend Tamika Catchings - 1979
