1405 – Chinese fleet commander Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time
1533 – Pope Clement VII excommunicates England’s King Henry VIII
1798 – The U.S. Marine Corps, originally established in 1775, was formally reestablished.
1804 – Outraged over disparaging remarks that Alexander Hamilton had allegedly made at a dinner party, Aaron Burr challenged his longtime rival to a duel, and on this day in 1804 he fatally shot Hamilton in Weehawken, New Jersey.
1818 – English poet John Keats writes “In the Cottage Where Burns is Born”, “Lines Written in the Highlands”, and “Gadfly”
1863 – Angered by unfair practices in Civil War conscription, New York City workers rioted and attacked draft headquarters.
1877 – Kate Edger becomes New Zealand’s first woman graduate and first woman in the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts
1936 – The Triborough Bridge (later renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge), designed by David Barnard Steinman, opened in New York City.
1944 – Franklin Roosevelt announces that he will run for a fourth term as President of the United States
1960 – American author Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was published and became a classic, noted for its sensitive treatment of a child’s awakening to racism and prejudice in the South.
1995 – 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men are massacred when Bosnian Serbs overrun the UN ‘safe haven’ of Srebrenica
Births & Deaths: 1989 – British actor Laurence Olivier, arguably the greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th century, died near London.
Sport: 1900 – Charlotte Cooper beats Hélène Prévost to become the 1st female Olympic tennis champion and the 1st individual female Olympic champion in any sport
Music: 1969 – David Bowie releases the single “Space Oddity” 9 days before Apollo 11 lands on the moon
TV & Film: 2013 – “Orange Is the New Black” premieres on Netflix starring Taylor Schilling, first series to be nominated for comedy and drama Emmy awards
