Today In History

Today is Friday, Aug. 28, the 241st day of 2020. There are 125 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1963: More than 200,000 people listened as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

ON THIS DATE

› 1955: Emmett Till, a Black teen from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in Money, Mississippi, by two white men after he had supposedly whistled at a white woman; he was found brutally slain three days later.

› 1964: Two days of race-related rioting erupted in North Philadelphia over a false rumor that white police officers had beaten to death a pregnant Black woman.

› 2005: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered everyone in the city to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina grew to a monster storm.

› 2013: On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, President Barack Obama stood on the same steps as he challenged new generations to seize the cause of racial equality.

› 2018: A white former police officer, Roy Oliver, was convicted of murder for fatally shooting an unarmed Black 15-year-old boy, Jordan Edwards, while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas; Oliver was sentenced the following day to 15 years in prison.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor Sonny Shroyer is 85. Actor Marla Adams is 82. Singer Wayne Osmond (The Osmonds) is 69. Actor Daniel Stern is 63. Olympic gold medal figure skater Scott Hamilton is 62. Actor John Allen Nelson is 61. Actor Emma Samms is 60. Actor Jennifer Coolidge is 59. Actor Amanda Tapping is 55. Country singer Shania Twain is 55. Actor J. August Richards is 47. Rock singer-musician Max Collins (Eve 6) is 42. Actor Carly Pope is 40. Country singer Jake Owen is 39. Country singer LeAnn Rimes is 38. Actor Kelly Thiebaud is 38. Actor Alfonso Herrera is 37. Actor Sarah Roemer is 36. Actor Armie Hammer is 34. Actor Katie Findlay is 30. Actor/singer Samuel Larsen is 29. Actor Kyle Massey is 29. Actor Quvenzhane Wallis is 17. Reality TV star Alana Thompson, aka “Honey Boo Boo,” is 15.