Today:
1066: The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place, where the English army under King Harold Godwinson defeated the invading Norwegian forces.
1513: Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, after crossing the Isthmus of Panama, reached the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European to do so.
1789: The first United States Congress proposed the Bill of Rights, the initial ten amendments to the Constitution.
1890: Sequoia National Park in California was established by the United States Congress.
1926: The international Slavery Convention was signed, an agreement to abolish slavery and the slave trade.
1957: Under the protection of federal troops, nine African American students, known as the Little Rock Nine, attended their first full day of classes at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1962: The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria was formally established.
1974: The first ulnar collateral ligament replacement surgery, popularly known as Tommy John surgery, was performed on baseball pitcher Tommy John.
1981: Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the first female Supreme Court justice in United States history.
1992: NASA launched the Mars Observer probe on a mission to study the Martian surface, climate, and atmosphere.