February 27th
Today in America's Present Past
1659 | Cleric and academic Henry Dunster died.
1795 | War of Independence hero Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion died.
1801 | Congress: Washington, D.C., is placed under Congressional jurisdiction.
1807 | Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is born.
1813 | Congress: First national vaccine legislation is passed.
1827 | New Orleans, Louisiana, celebrates its first Mardi Gras.
1860 | POTUS: Candidate for President Abraham Lincoln gives his “Cooper Union Address” in New York City, New York.
1864 | Civil War: Battle of Dalton, Georgia.
1867 | Economist Irving Fisher was born.
1872 | Civil Rights: Charlotte Ray, the first African American woman, graduated from law school at Howard University.
1877 | Entrepreneur Walter O’Briggs was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
1878 | Entrepreneur Charles Strite was born.
1880 | Journalist Angelina Weld Grimke was born.
1883 | The first cigar-rolling machine is patented by Oscar Hammerstein.
1886 | SCOTUS: Justice Hugo L. Black was born.
1897 | Musician Marian Anderson was born.
1902 | Novelist John Ernst Steinbeck was born.
1906 | Aviator Samuel Pierpont Langley died.
1907 | Musician Mildred Bailey was born.
1910 | Inventor Kelly Johnson was born in Ishpeming, Michigan.
1917 | Politician and Kennedy assignation victim John Connally was born.
1922 | SCOTUS: The Court upholds the 19th Amendment.
1932 | Actress Elizabeth Taylor was born.
1934 | Author N. Scott Momaday was born.
1934 | Activist Ralph Nader was born.
1942 | WWII: Japanese forces defeat US forces at the Battle of Java Sea.
1951 | The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution is ratified.
1951 | Political Lee Atwater was born.
1951 | W.E.B. Du Bois wed Shirley Graham.
1962 | Actor Grant Show was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1966 | Actor Gregg Rainwater was born in Flint, Michigan.
1968 | Basketball Pro Loy Vaught was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1969 | Musician Brad Vander Ark was born in Holland, Michigan.
1970 | Civil Rights: The New York Times falsely reports the U.S. Army has ended domestic surveillance.
1973 | Civil Rights: The Wounded Knee Incident started at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
1981 | Singer Josh Groban was born.
1985 | Politician Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. died.
1986 | Congress: The U.S. Senate allows television broadcasts of their proceedings.
1994 | Aviator Laurence Craigie died.
1998 | Scientist George H. Hitchings died.
2003 | Children’s TV personality Fred Rogers died.
2008 | Author William F. Buckley died.
2012 | Foreign agent Julian Assange begins publishing U.S. intelligence documents.
2015 | Actor Leonard Nimoy died.
2016 | Actor George Kennedy died.
2019 | POTUS: Republican President Trump meets with DPRK dictator Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam.
2024 | Actor Richard Lewis died.