On August 4, 1936, American Jesse Owens won gold in the long
jump at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. It was the
second of four gold medals Owens won in Berlin, as he firmly
dispelled German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler’s notion of the superiority
of an Aryan “master race,” for all the world to see.

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens
(September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980)

Melvin Emery Patton (November 16, 1924 – May 9, 2014) was an
American sprinter, who set the world record of 9.2 seconds in
the 100 yard dash in 1948. He also set a 220 yd. world record
in 1949 on a straightaway of 20.2, breaking the record held by
Jesse Owens.                                                                                

Patton won two gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He
was ranked first in the world in the 100 m and 200 m events in
1947 and 1949.

Patton was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of
Fame in 1985, and died in Fallbrook, California.

   
CARLATA BRADLEY

At the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, a woman’s
rights convention—the first ever held in the United States—
convened with almost 200 women in attendance.

The convention was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, two abolitionists who met at the 1840 World Anti-
Slavery Convention in London.

ROSS SIMPSON

Merle Haggard received many honors and awards for
his music, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2010);
a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006); a BMI
Icon Award (2006) and induction into the Nashville
Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall
of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
(1997). He died on April 6, 2016—his 79th birthday—
at his ranch in Shasta County, California, having
recently suffered from double pneumonia.

 
ROSS SIMPSON

SAMARRA, Iraq (AP) — On this day in 2006, Sunni extremists blew up a revered Shiite shrine, igniting the worst sectarian violence Iraq had ever seen.

Iraqis walk past the damaged al-Askari shrine following the
explosion.