Today:
1554 – Lady Jane Grey, the de facto Queen of England for nine days, is executed for high treason in the Tower of London.
1733 – English colonist James Oglethorpe founds the city of Savannah, Georgia, establishing the last of the original Thirteen Colonies.
1809 – Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, is born in a log cabin in Hardin County (now LaRue County), Kentucky.
1818 – Chile formally declares independence from Spain after years of struggle during the Chilean War of Independence.
1870 – Women gain the right to vote in the Utah Territory, making Utah the second place in the U.S. to grant women’s suffrage (after Wyoming in 1869).
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded in the United States to fight for civil rights and end racial discrimination.
1924 – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premieres at Aeolian Hall in New York City, a landmark moment in American music.
1947 – Christian Dior presents his first fashion collection in Paris, introducing the “New Look” and revolutionizing women’s fashion.
1999 – The U.S. Senate acquits President Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial, allowing him to remain in office.
2002 – The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.