History Today

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 16th. Kendrick Lamar was only 30 years old on this day in 2018 when he became the first rapper ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 2017 album DAMN. It was the first time the award had gone to a work outside the traditional genres of classical music and jazz. Surprising fact? As a child, Lamar witnessed rap icons Tupac Shakur and Dr.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 15th. It’s a story that has long captured the imagination of people across the world --in the early morning hours of this this day in 1912, the British ocean liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic some two hours after hitting an iceberg. Due in part to a shortage of lifeboats and unorganized emergency procedures, more than 1,500 people perished in the disaster.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 14th. It was known as Black Sunday--on this day in 1935, a massive dust storm hit the plains of Colorado, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. The storm, which was hundreds of miles wide and thousands of feet high, turned a sunny day so completely dark that people reported not being able to see their hand in front of their face.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 13th.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-- they are some of the most famous lines in American history, and they were written by American founding father Thomas Jefferson, who was born on this day in 1743.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 12th.

One hundred and fifty eight years ago today, the first shots were fired in what would become the bloodiest conflict in American history--the American Civil War.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 11th.

With children across the country looking forward to receiving treats from the Easter bunny tomorrow, we look back to this day in 1971 when Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter hosted the annual White House Easter Egg roll.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 10th. Amid reports that pet adoptions are on the rise as people turn to furry friends to ease the strain of social distancing, we look back to this day in 1866 when the ASPCA, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 9th. Just weeks after NASA put out a call for new astronaut applications, we look back to this day in 1959 when NASA introduced its first class of astronauts. The seven astronauts--all men and all military test pilots--were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America’s first manned space program.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 8th. With baseball’s opening day pushed back until at least mid-May, we look back to this day in 1974, when Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run to break Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. Aaron retired in 1976 with a total of 755 career home runs. He went on to become one of baseball’s first Black executives, and a prominent advocate for minority hiring.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on April 7th. Happy birthday, internet! Although it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact day the internet came into our lives, many people point to this day in 1969 as its birthday. That’s the day when the Internet Engineering Task Force published its first RFC, or request for comments. It’s this document that, to this day, contains the specs, procedures and protocols that help govern how the internet is run.