1821: The colony of Guatemala, including the present-day nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, declares its independence from Spain.
Learn more about Guatemala.

1830: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens. The first railroad to carry both passengers and freight, its success sparks widespread railroad building in Britain and the United States.
Learn more about Railroads.

1928: Scottish bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory. The mold will later be developed into penicillin, a revolutionary antibiotic.
Learn more about Penicillin.

1935: At its annual convention in Nürnberg, Germany, the National Socialist (or Nazi) party enacts the Nürnberg Laws, which deprive Jews of basic civil rights.
Learn more about the Holocaust.

1963: Four black girls are killed in the Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, a center of civil rights activity in Birmingham, Alabama.
Learn more about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

1978: American boxer Muhammad Ali becomes the first man to win the world heavyweight title three times when he defeats Leon Spinks, who had taken his title earlier in the year.
Learn more about Muhammad Ali.

Born On This Day

William Howard Taft, U.S. president and chief justice (1857) Jean Renoir, film director and actor (1894) Claude McKay, poet and novelist (1890) Dan Marino, quarterback (1961) Oliver Stone, film director (1946) Jessye Norman, opera singer (1945)