97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every Thursday morning, local historian Scott Washington joins 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck for “History Matters,” a look back at notable events and significant figures from this week in history, ranging from pioneers to writers to inventors to civil rights champions and more, locally, nationally, and beyond.
It’s July 4 week, which means lots of big moments in American history. Scott and Aaron celebrate the Declaration of Independence, the completion of the Statue of Liberty, the groundbreaking of the Washington Monument, the writing of “America the Beautiful,” the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the appointment of Patricia Roberts Harris as ambassador to Luxembourg in 1965 – making her the first-ever Black woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador.