On or about August 20, 1619, “20 and odd” Angolans, kidnapped
by the Portuguese, arrived in the British colony of Virginia and 
were then bought by English colonists.

The exact date is not definitively known (a letter from the time
identified the ship’s arrival coming in "the latter part of August"),
but this date has been chosen by many to mark the arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World—beginning two and a half
centuries of slavery in North America.

Viking 1, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe,was launched from
Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Mars on this day in
1975.

On June 19, 1976, the spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars
and devoted the next month to imaging the Martian surface with
the purpose of finding an appropriate landing site for its lander.

The same day, the craft sent back the first close-up photographs
of the rust-colored Martian surface.

In September 1976, Viking 2—launched only three weeks after
Viking 1—entered into orbit around Mars, where it assisted Viking
1 in imaging the surface and also sent down a lander.

First "clear" image ever transmitted from the surface of Mars
– shows rocks near the Viking 1 Lander (July 20, 1976).

First color image taken by the Viking 1 lander (July 21, 1976).