TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1850

California became the 31st state of the union.

ON THIS DATE 1776

The second Continental Congress made the term “United States” official, replacing “United Colonies.”

In 1893, Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to a daughter, Esther, in the White House; it was the first (and, to date, only) time a president’s child was born in the executive mansion.

1932

The steamboat Observation exploded in New York’s East River, killing 72 people. In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was declared.

1956

Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

1957

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction, a measure primarily concerned with protecting voting rights and which also established a Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.

1971

Prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives.

1991

Boxer Mike Tyson was indicted in Indianapolis on a charge of raping Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant. (Tyson was convicted and ended up serving three years of a six-year prison sentence.)

2015

Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in British history, serving as sovereign for 23,226 days (about 63 years and 7 months), according to Buckingham Palace, surpassing Queen Victoria, her greatgreat-grandmother. New York became the first U.S. city to require salt warnings on chain-restaurant menus.