TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – SEPT 17
0642 – Arab forces under Amr ibn al-‘As conquer Alexandria
1394 – In France, Charles VI published an ordinance that expelled all Jews from France.
1778 – The United States signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Delaware Nation.
1787 – The Constitution of the United States of America was signed by delegates at the Constitutional Convention.
1796 – President George Washington delivers his “Farewell Address” to Congress before concluding his second term in office.
1902 – U.S. troops are sent to Panama to keep train lines open over the isthmus as Panamanian nationals struggle for independence from Colombia.
1916 – Germany’s “Red Baron,” Manfred von Richthofen, wins his first aerial combat.
1920 – The American Professional Football Association was formed in Canton, OH. It was the precursor to the National Football League (NFL).
1937 – At Mount Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln’s face was dedicated.
1947 – James Forestall is sworn in as first the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
1953 – The Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA, successfully separated Siamese twins. Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were connected at the waist when born.
1962 – The first federal suit to end public school segregation is filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
1976 – The Space Shuttle is unveiled to the public.
1984 – 9,706 immigrants became naturalized citizens when they were sworn in by U.S. Vice-President George Bush in Miami, FL. It was the largest group to become U.S. citizens.
1992 – Lawrence Walsh called a halt to his probe of the Iran-Contra scandal. The investigation had lasted 5 1/2 years.
1998 – The U.S. announced a plan that would compensate victims in the Kenya and Tanzania U.S. Embassy bombings on August 7, 1998. The United States government offered a reward for the capture of Haroun Fazil for his role in the U.S. bombing in Kenya
2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers; longest period of closure since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement calling for greater social and economic equality begins in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, coining the phrase “We are the 99%.”
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
