On this day, April 11

1814 Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of France and was banished to the island of Elba. (Napoleon later escaped from Elba and returned to power in March 1815 until his downfall in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.)

1865 President Abraham Lincoln spoke to a crowd outside the White House, saying, “We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart.” (It was the last public address Lincoln would deliver.)

1907 Andrew Carnegie formally presented the $6 million Carnegie Institute of Technology in a dedication ceremony witnessed by 20,000. 1945 During World War II, American soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.

1947 Jackie Robinson, of the Brooklyn Dodgers, played in an exhibition against the New York Yankees at Ebbets Field, four days before his regular-season debut that broke baseball’s color line. (The Dodgers won, 14-6.)

1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which included the Fair Housing Act, a week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

1996 Jessica Dubroff, 7, who hoped to become the youngest person to fly cross-country, was killed along with her father and flight instructor when their plane crashed after takeoff from Cheyenne, Wyo. Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Alyssa Brown Today’s birthdays: Ethel Kennedy, 93. Actor Joel Grey, 89. Actor Louise Lasser, 82. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman, 80. Movie writer-director John Milius, 77. Actor Peter Riegert, 74. Actor Bill Irwin, 71. Country singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, 64. Songwriter-producer Daryl Simmons, 64. Rock musician Nigel Pulsford, 60. Actor Lucky Vanous, 60. Country singer Steve Azar, 57. Singer Lisa Stansfield, 55. Actor Johnny Messner, 52. Rock musician Dylan Keefe (Marcy Playground), 51. Actor Vicellous Shannon, 50. Rapper David Banner, 47. Actor Tricia Helfer, 47. Rock musician Chris Gaylor (The All-American Rejects), 42. Actor Kelli Garner, 37. Singer Joss Stone, 34. Actor-dancer Kaitlyn Jenkins, 29. Thought for today: “We think in generalities, but we live in detail.”

— Alfred North Whitehead, British philosopher (1861-1947)