This Day in History Class

The Grito de Dolores launched the Mexican War of Independence on this day in 1810. / On this day in 1979, the Strelzyk and Wetzel families escaped from East Germany to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon.

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The Crash at Crush took place on this day in 1896. / On this day in 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed in an act of terrorism by white supremacists.

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U.S. President William McKinley died on this day in 1901, having been shot by an assassin on September 6. / On this day in 1921, Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to be named a federal court judge, was born.

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Phineas Gage was struck through the skull with a tamping iron on this day in 1848. / On this day in 1922, a fire in Smyrna in Asia Minor -- present-day İzmir, Turkey -- began blazing through the city.

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Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett eloped on this day in 1846. / Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by military coup on this day in 1974.

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Vivekananda gave a speech on Hinduism in Chicago on this day in 1893. / On this day in 1792, the Hope Diamond was stolen in the chaos of the French Revolution.

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DNA fingerprinting was discovered on this day in 1984. / On this day in 1960, Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila set a world record for the marathon at the Olympics in Rome.

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The Attica Prison Uprising began on this day in 1971. / On this day in 1924, a strike organized by Filipino sugar plantation workers turned into a massacre of Filipinos by local police.

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The Delano Grape Strike began on this day in 1965. / On this day in 1504, Michelangelo's David was unveiled to the public.

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Pirates raided the Ganj-i-Sawai on this day in 1695. / On this day in 1936, the last thylacine, aka Tasmanian tiger, died at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.

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