TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 12
1204 The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople.
1606 England adopts the Union Jack as its flag.
1770 Parliament repeals the Townsend Acts.
1811 The first colonists arrive at Cape Disappointment, Washington.
1844 Texas became a US territory
1861 Fort Sumter is shelled by the Confederacy, starting America’s Civil War.
1869 North Carolina legislature passes anti-Klan Law
1916 American cavalrymen and Mexican bandit troops clash at Parral, Mexico.
1938 1st US law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses (New York)
1945 Canadian troops liberate Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands
1955 Dr. Jonas Salk’s discovery of a polio vaccine is announced.
1961 Soviet Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin becomes first man to orbit the Earth.
1981 The Space Shuttle blasts off into space for the first time
Two astronauts took off for Space Shuttle Columbia’s first orbital test flight.
1987 Texaco files for bankruptcy
1990 1st meeting of East German democratically elected parliament, acknowledges responsibility for Nazi holocaust & asks for forgiveness
1992 Lynn Gunther of California threatens to blow herself up in front of UN
1999 Arkansas federal judge Susan Webber Wright found President Clinton in contempt of court for lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
