On June 20, 1975, Jaws, a film directed by Steven Spielberg that
made countless viewers afraid to go into the water, opened in
theaters. The story of a great white shark that terrorizes a New
England resort town became an instant blockbuster and the
highest-grossing film in movie history until it was bested by
1977’s Star Wars.

Steven Spielberg (77)

In what is now known as Juneteenth, on June 19, 1865, Union
soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil
War is over and slavery in the United States is abolished.

A mix of June and 19th, Juneteenth has become a day to
commemorate the end of slavery in America.

Despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued more than two years earlier on January
1, 1863, a lack of Union troops in the rebel state of Texas made
the order difficult to enforce.

Some historians blame the lapse in time on poor communication
in that era, while others believe Texan slave-owners purposely
withheld the information.

Abraham Lincoln 
(February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)

Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024)

Willie Mays was a professional baseball center fielder. Regarded
as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind
only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The
Sporting News and ESPN. Mays played in the National League
between 1951 and 1973 for the New York / San Francisco Giants
and New York Mets.

Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012)

On June 18, 1983,  the space shuttle Challenger was launched
into space on its second mission. On board the shuttle is Dr. 
Sally K. Ride, who as a mission specialist, became the first
American woman to travel into space. 

Ride, who had earlier pursued a professional tennis career,
answered a newspaper ad in 1977 from NASA calling for
young tech-savvy scientists who could work as mission
specialists. She died of pancreatic cancer at age 61.

              
Presidential Medal of Freedom
         (2013, posthumous)

Sir James Paul McCartney