On a warm Roman evening inside the Palazzo dello Sport, a tall, brash, and quick-footed 18-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, danced his way into history. Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.—the world would later know him as Muhammad Ali—captured the light heavyweight gold medal at the Rome…
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On September 5, 1774, Americans took one step closer toward independence with the meeting of the First Continental Congress. As tensions with Great Britain escalated, the colonies recognized the necessity of a unified response to the increasingly oppressive British policies, which many colonists believed…
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On September 5, 1666, nearly 60 percent of London lay in ruins, burned after one of the biggest fires to ever engulf a city. The fire started in a small bakery on Pudding Lane, where the flames quickly spread due to strong winds and…
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On September 4, 1951, American television ceased to be a regional novelty and became a truly national medium. That day, viewers from coast to coast watched the same event at the same time: the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco, carried live across…
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On September 4, 476 AD, a defining moment in history marked the end of the Western Roman Empire—a political entity that had dominated the Mediterranean world for centuries. This date saw the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor of the West, by…
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On September 4, 1957, nine students tried to attend their new school for the first time and participated in one of the significant events of the Civil Rights Movement. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School in Little…
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On September 3, 1838, a twenty-year-old enslaved man named Frederick Bailey (later Frederick Douglass) made his bid for freedom. His escape from bondage, carried out with quiet audacity on the railroads and waterways of the Mid-Atlantic, would alter not only the course of his…
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On September 3, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, a seemingly minor skirmish took place near Newark, Delaware, known as the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. Although small in scale, this engagement carries significant historical weight as it is widely recognized as the first time…
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September 3, 1939, the world drew battle lines, and World War II officially began following England and France’s declaration of war against the Nazis following Hitler’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The invasion was a brazen act of aggression, violating international norms…
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The morning of September 2, 1945, dawned over Tokyo Bay with a clarity that belied the devastation of the preceding years. Aboard the battleship USS Missouri, anchored proudly among a fleet of Allied warships, representatives of the major warring powers assembled to witness the…
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