TODAY IN HISTORY

1652: Rhode Island became the first American colony to pass a law abolishing African slavery; however, the law was apparently never enforced.

1863: The Siege of Vicksburg began during the Civil War, ending July 4 with a Union victory.

1910: Halley’s Comet passed by earth, brushing it with its tail.

1927: In America’s deadliest school attack, part of a schoolhouse in Bath Township, Michigan, was blown up with explosives planted by local farmer Andrew Kehoe, who then set off a bomb in his truck; the attacks killed 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe, who’d earlier killed his wife. (Authorities said Kehoe, who suffered financial difficulties, was seeking revenge for losing a township clerk election.)

1980: The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.

1981: The New York Native, a gay newspaper, carried a story concerning rumors of “an exotic new disease” among homosexuals; it was the first published report about what came to be known as AIDS.

1998: The U.S. government filed an antitrust case against Microsoft, saying the powerful software company had a “choke hold” on competitors that was denying consumers important choices about how they bought and used computers. (The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in 2001.)

2012: Social network Facebook made its trading debut with one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in Wall Street history; however, by day’s end, Facebook stock closed up only 23 cents from its initial pricing of $38.