History
9/1/1939: Hitler's armies invade Poland during WWII
9/1/1983: Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down by a Russian fighter jet while en route from New York to Seoul, killing all 269 people on board. It reportedly strayed over a secret Soviet military installation on the Kamchatka Peninsula
9/1/1923: Boxer Rocky Marciano was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. He died in a plane crash in 1969
9/2/1666: The Great Fire of London begins in a bakery in Pudding Lane near The Tower. Over the course of 3 days, it destroys more than 13,000 houses and only 6 people died
9/2/1923: The first free elections were held in the Irish Free State after achieving independence from Britain
9/2/1962: Soviets send arms to Cuba, resulting in the October Missile Crisis
9/2/1963: Alabama governor George Wallace halts integration by surrounding Tuskegee High School with state troopers
9/2/1986: Christa McAuliffe, a 37 year old high school teacher, becomes the first "ordinary citizen" to go up in space. But she died with 6 other crew members in the Challenger shuttle explosion 74 seconds after liftoff
9/3/1833: The
New York Sun is created. It marks the beginning of the 'penny press', inexpensive newspapers featuring human interest stories to be sold by paper boys
9/3/1838: Anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass begins his escape from slavery by boarding a train in Baltimore dressed as a sailor. He rode to Wilmington, Delaware, where he took a steamboat to Philadelphia, and took a train to New York City, where he began the Underground Railroad
9/4/1609: Island of Manhattan is discovered by explorer Henry Hudson
9/4/1781: Los Angeles is discovered by Spanish governor of California, Felipe de Neve, near the Native American village of Yang-Na
9/5/1972: 11 members of the Israeli Olympic Team were killed during an attack on the Olympic Village in Munich by members of the Black September faction of the Palestine Liberation Army
9/5/1997: Mother Teresa, who spent her life aiding the sick and poor of India, dies in Calcutta at age 87
9/6/1991: Leningrad was renamed St. Petersburg by Russian legislators following the collapse of the Soviet Union
9/7/1940: "The London Blitz" begins. German Luftwaffe begin it's bombing campaign against London, nearly destroying everything in the city
9/11/2001: This day will be remembered forever! 4 large passenger planes were hijacked, then crashed in to the World Trade Center towers in New York City, killing nearly 3,000 people. 4 separate teams of Mideast terrorists, boarded the morning flights posing as passengers, then forcibly took over control of the aircraft. Two fully fueled jets, American Airlines Flight 11 carrying 92 people and United Airlines Flight 175 carrying 65 people had departed Boston for L.A. Both flights were diverted to New York where they were piloted into the World Trade Center. The impact and fire following it caused both of the 110 ton story buildings to collapse, killing 2,752 people including hundreds of rescue workers and employees in the towers. In addition, United Airlines flight 93, which departed from Newark, New Jersey headed for San Francisco, and American Airlines flight 77, which departed Dulles, Virginia for L.A. was hijacked. Flight 77 had 64 people on board and was diverted to Washington D.C. and piloted into the Pentagon building, killing all patrons on board and 125 military personnel in the Pentagon. Flight 93, with 44 people on board, was diverted to Washington D.C. as well and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to override the terrorists
9/12/1977: South African anti-Apartheid activist Stephen Biko dies in police custody
9/12/1913: black athlete Jesse Owens is born in Oakville, Alabama. He won 4 medals in track and field at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany defeating the Nazi athletes and disappointing Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
9/13/1971: Attica state prison riot. National Guardsmen and State Police stormed Attica State Prison in Buffalo, N.Y. ending a 5 day prison riot. 31 prisoners and 11 guards were killed
9/14/1930: The Nazi Party becomes the second largest party in Germany following the election of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor
9/14/1982: Princess Grace of Monaco died from an accident involving her car going off the side of the road in Monte Carlo. Princess Grace was American actress Grace Kelly, who married Prince Ranier III while filming the Hitchcock movie
To Catch a Thief
9/15/1916: Tanks were introduced into combat, at the Battle of the Somme, in WWI
9/15/1857: British mystery author Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, England
9/15/1908: General Motors is founded by William Durant in Flint, Michigan
9/18/1905: Swedish actress Greta Garbo is born in Stockholm, Sweden
9/24/1957: President Dwight D. Eisenhower enforced racial integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas
9/24/1936: Puppeteer and Muppets creator Jim Henson is born in Greenville, Mississippi. He is best known for creating
The Muppets, and
Sesame Street
9/26/1898: Composer George Gershwin is born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He is best known for
Rhapsody in Blue and
Porgy and Bess
9/29/1829: Britain's "bobbies" made their first appearance. Greater London's Metropolitan Police force was established by an act of Parliament at the request of Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, after whom they were nicknamed. They later became known as Scotland Yard, the site of their first headquarters
9/30/1955: Actor James Dean is killed in a car crash in California at age 24
