On this date...

Elizabeth Blackwell Letter

In 1776, Washington writes Charles Lee to confront hard realities: Canada falters after Quebec, yet reinforcements are finally on the march. He warns Lee that British General Henry Clinton has sailed from Boston, destination unknown but likely New York. New York and Washington believes may decide the war.

In 1789, Georgetown College (now Georgetown University) was established in Washington, D.C.

In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell received an M.D. degree from Geneva Medical College in New York, becoming the first American-trained woman physician.

In 1853, John Wilkes Booth was baptized at St. Timothy's Protestant Episcopal Church.

In 1855, the first bridge over the Mississippi River in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, opened; today known as the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge

In 1870, declaring he did not care whether or not it was the rebellious band of Native Americans he had been searching for, Major Eugene Baker orders his men to attack a sleeping camp of peaceful Blackfeet along the Marias River in northern Montana. It is now known as the Baker Massacre.

In 1889, Daniel Hale Williams founded the Provident Hospital in Chicago, the first non-segregated hospital in the US

In 1907, Charles Curtis of Kansas became the first Native American to be elected to the United States Senate. His tenure later as Herbert Hoover's vice president made him the highest-ranking Native American ever to serve in the federal government.

In 1930, the George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Virginia was established

In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 1941, Charles A. Lindbergh, a national hero since his nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic, testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Lend-Lease policy and suggests that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler.

In 1964, the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the federal and state governments from imposing poll taxes before a citizen could participate in a federal election, was ratified. Such taxes had previously imposed unfair restrictions on Black American voters.

In 1968, the USS Pueblo, a Navy intelligence vessel, was engaged in a routine surveillance of the North Korean coast when it was intercepted by North Korean patrol boats.

In 1973, the US and Vietnam reach peace settlement.

In 1977, the TV miniseries Roots, an adaptation of Alex Haley's best-selling novel, debuted; it became one of the most popular shows in the history of American television and brought mainstream attention to Black American history.

In 1981, the first Richard Nixon museum opened in San Clemente, California

In 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland inducted its first class, which included Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Elvis Presley.

In 1991, Darrell Lunsford, a county constable in Garrison, Texas, was killed after pulling over a traffic violator. His murder was remarkable because it was captured on a camera set up in Lunsford’s patrol vehicle. The videotape evidence led to the conviction of the three men who beat, kicked, and stabbed the officer to death along the East Texas highway.

In 1993, NY Newsday reported that U.S. Senator from Oregon Bob Packwood sexually harassed 23 women.

In 1997, the day after her unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Madeleine Albright was sworn in as America’s first female secretary of state by Vice President Al Gore at the White House.

In 1997, a judge in Fairfax, Va., sentenced a Pakistani man to death for an assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two people and wounded three.

In 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted in Karachi, Pakistan, by a group demanding the return of prisoners from the Afghan campaign. (He was later killed.)

In 2019, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disinvited President Donald Trump from making a State of the Union address in Congress, citing the government shutdown.

In 2025, US President Donald Trump issued pardons to 23 anti-abortion activists convicted of illegally blocking access to clinics.