On July 19, 1848, a modest Wesleyan chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, became the unlikely cradle of a social revolution. Over two humid summer days, nearly 300 women and men gathered to launch what would become the organized women’s rights movement in the…
Read MoreOn July 18, 2013, the city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, marking the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The filing was submitted by Kevyn Orr, the city’s state-appointed emergency manager, to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of…
Read MoreIn the midst of the First World War—a conflict that had engulfed the globe and pitted empires against each other—King George V of the United Kingdom took a decisive step to distance the British monarchy from its German roots. On July 17, 1917, he…
Read MoreOn July 16, 1861, at the direction of President Abraham Lincoln, thousands of Union soldiers crossed the Potomac River and began a grueling 25-mile march toward Manassas Junction, Virginia. The operation, undertaken with the hopes of swiftly crushing the Confederate rebellion, would culminate just…
Read MoreOn July 15, 2002, John Walker Lindh—the California-born man dubbed the “American Taliban”—pleaded guilty in federal court to two felony charges: supplying services to the Taliban and carrying explosives during the commission of a felony. The plea marked a stunning conclusion to one of…
Read MoreOn July 14, 1960, a 26-year-old British woman named Jane Goodall arrived at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania), launching what would become one of the most significant and enduring studies of animal behavior in history. With no formal scientific training…
Read MoreOn July 13, 2024, President Donald J. Trump was shot and wounded during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in what authorities have classified as an attempted assassination. The attack, which occurred just after 6:00 p.m. at the Butler Farm Show grounds, stunned the…
Read MoreOn July 12, 1543, in a private ceremony at Hampton Court Palace, King Henry VIII of England wed Catherine Parr, the sixth and final queen consort of his turbulent reign. A widow twice over and nearly a decade younger than the aging monarch, Catherine…
Read MoreOn July 11, 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s first and, for many years, only novel, was published in the United States. Instantly capturing the American consciousness, the book quickly rose to prominence, resonating deeply amid the turbulent civil rights era. Set in…
Read MoreOn July 10, 1832, President Andrew Jackson made one of the most shocking moves in American history. He vetoed legislation to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States, a moment that reverberated far beyond the immediate fate of a financial institution. The veto,…
Read More