Today:
In 1673, French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reached the Mississippi River. They were the first Europeans to map and document the northern portion of the river.
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought in 1775 during the American Revolutionary War. Although the British won the battle, the American colonists inflicted heavy casualties, demonstrating their resolve.
In 1789, during the French Revolution, the members of the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly, a pivotal event in the overthrow of the monarchy.
The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor from France on this day in 1885, packed in more than 200 crates.
In 1928, aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, as a passenger on a flight from Newfoundland to Wales.
Iceland declared its independence from Denmark and became a republic on June 17, 1944.
In 1963, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Abington School District v. Schempp that mandatory Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional.
The Watergate scandal began on this day in 1972, when five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
In 1991, the South African Parliament voted to repeal the Population Registration Act, a cornerstone of the apartheid system that had classified citizens by race.
On June 17, 1994, after a televised low-speed pursuit, former football star O.J. Simpson was arrested in connection with the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.