TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: SEPTEMBER 15
1588 The Spanish Armada, which attempted to invade England, is destroyed by a British fleet.
1616 First non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy
1775 An early and unofficial American flag was raised by Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Mott after the seizing of Fort Johnson from the British. The flag was dark blue with the white word “Liberty” spelled on it.
1789 The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs changed its name to the Department of State.
1821 Act of Independence of Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras & Nicaragua declare their independence from the Spanish Empire
1858 The Butterfield Overland Mail Company begins delivering mail from St. Louis to San Francisco. The company’s motto is: “Remember, boys, nothing on God’s earth must stop the United States mail!”
1916 First use of tanks in warfare, “Little Willies” at Battle of Flers-Courcelette, part of the Battle of the Somme
1923 Oklahoma was placed under martial law by Gov. John Calloway Walton due to terrorist activity by the Ku Klux Klan. After this declaration national newspapers began to expose the Klan and its criminal activities.
1928 Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers, by accident, that the mold penicillin has an antibiotic effect.
1935 The Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of their citizenship and made the Swastika the official emblem of Nazi Germany.
1950 U.N. Forces, lead by the U.S. Marine Corps, invade occupied Korea at the port of Inchon. Considered the greatest amphibious attack in history, it is the zenith of General Douglas MacArthur’s career.
1963 A Ku Klux Klan bomb kills 4 young African-American girls. 4 members of the white supremacy group, set off a timed bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church, a predominantly black church in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombings marked a watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement in America.
1971 The environmental group Greenpeace is founded.
1990 France announces it will send 4,000 troops to join those of other nations assembling in the Persian Gulf to protect Saudi Arabia and force Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein to withdraw troops from occupied Kuwait.
1998 It was announced that 5.9 million people read The Starr Report on the Internet. 606,000 people read the White House defense of U.S. President Clinton.
2004 National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman announces a lockout of the players union.
2008 The largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US history is filed by Lehman Brothers financial services firm.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
