July 7th
Today in America's Present Past
1647 | Politician Thomas Hooker died.
1754 | King’s College in New York City opened (renamed Columbia College later).
1777 | War of Independence: Battle of Hubbardton, Vermont.
1834 | Civil Rights: A two-week “anti-abolitionist” riot in New York City breaks out.
1861 | Civil War: Battle of Laurel Hill, Virginia.
1863 | Civil Rights: Orders barring Jews from serving under General Ulysses S. Grant are revoked.
1865 | Lincoln assassination co-conspirators are executed: Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt.
1875 | Outlaw Jesse James’ gang robs a train in Otterville, Missouri.
1876 | Civil Rights: Hamburg massacre. White farmers attack a black militia in Hamburg, South Carolina.
1880 | Entrepreneur Otto Rohwedder was born.
1890 | Entrepreneur Henri Nestlé died.
1891 | Marcellus F. Berry, an American Express employee, is granted four copyrights for what he called "the travelers’ cheque.”
1898 | POTUS: Republican President McKinley signs the Organic Act to annex Hawaii.
1893 | SCOTUS: Justice Samuel Blatchford dies.
1899 | Director George Cukor was born.
1906 | Baseball Pro Satchel Paige was born.
1907 | Poet Helene Johnson was born.
1912 | Civil Rights: The Grabow massacre occurs in Louisiana.
1919 | Civil Rights: “Red Summer race riots” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1928 | Sliced bread was sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company, Missouri.
1930 | Construction begins on Boulder (Hoover) Dam.
1933 | Historian David McCullough was born.
1936 | Henry F. Phillips receives patents for a new "cross-recessed" screw, and the new screwdriver needed to make it work.
1940 | Economist and politician Richard K. Armey was born.
1943 | Film critic Joel Siegel was born.
1946 | Civil Rights: Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini (Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), canonized as the first American saint.
1948 | Civil Rights: Six female reservists became the first women sworn into the regular Navy.
1949 | Actress Shelley Duvall was born.
1958 | POTUS: Republican President Eisenhower signed legislation approving Alaskan statehood.
1960 | Cold War: Soviets shoot down a U.S. aircraft over the Barring Strait.
1961 | James R Hoffa elected chairman of Teamsters.
1972 | Civil Rights: The first women FBI members sworn in (Susan Lynn Roley & Joanne E Pierce).
1981 | SCOTUS: Sandra Day O'Connor nominated to the Supreme Court, the first female Supreme Court justice by President Reagan.
1986 | SCOTUS: Court strikes down Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law.
1987 | Congress: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North begins public testimony at the Iran-Contra hearing.
2011 | Historian Allan W. Eckert died.