Following its ratification by the requisite three-fourths of the states, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, is formally
adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment reads, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The next day after it was
adopted, Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey (below),
became the first African American to vote under the authority of the 15th Amendment.

Thomas Mundy Peterson
(October 6, 1824 – February 4, 1904)

SANDY KOZEL

Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by high ranking
Roman Senators on this day in 44 B.C.The day is known as the
"Ides of March."

Site of Julius Caesar stabbing found in Rome.

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress in Washington, during which he urged the
passing of the Voting Rights Act.

President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act
of 1965.

On this day in 2005, World come CEO Bernie Ebbers (center) was convicted of corporate fraud. He is currently serving a 25-year
sentence at the Oakdale Federal Correctional Institution in
Louisiana

In Montreal on this day in 1964, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
were married.

The Lerner and Loewe musical "My Fair Lady" opened on Broadway
on this day in 1956.

TIM MAGUIRE

Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution took place on this day in 1917. The provisional government of Alexander Kerensky was overthrown by forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

Hillary Rodham Clinton made history as the first president’s wife to
win public office on this day in 2000. The state of New York elected
her to the U.S. Senate (New York).       

A Florida election official tries to discern a voter’s intentions.

Hanging Chads: As the Florida Recount Implodes, the Supreme Court
Decides Bush v. Gore on this day in the 2000 Presidential election. 
election. Bush narrowly won the election having 271 electoral votes
compared to Al Gores’s 266 electoral votes.

This election was between the republican George W. Bush (left) and
the democratic-incumbent vice president Albert Arnold Gore.

The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington
state collapsed during a windstorm on this day in 1940.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge as it looks today.

On this day in 1991, Magic Johnson (standing) announced that he
had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, and that he was
retiring from playing basketball. He had been with the Los Angeles Lakers since 1979.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. turned 58 in August.

Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell is 74 today.

The Canadian singer-songwriter and painter Joni Mitchell is called by
Rolling Stone, "one of the greatest songwriters ever".

Since 2015, there have been conflicting reports about her current
health after she had suffered a brain aneurysm.

Mitchell made her first public appearance following the aneurysm
when she attended a Chick Corea concert in Los Angeles in August
2016.

 
William Franklin "Billy" Graham Jr. is 99 today.

Evangelical Christian evangelist Billy Graham has repeatedly been on Gallup’s
list of most admired men and women. He has appeared on the list 60 times since
1955, more than any other individual in the world.

From left: George Beverly Shea, Billy Graham, and Cliff Barrows,
the evangelistic trio in the late 1940s.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1945 a B-29 bomber, known as the Enola Gay, dropped the
first atomic bomb on an inhabited area. The bomb named "Little Boy" was
dropped over the center of Hiroshima, Japan. An estimated 140,000 people
were killed.

Pictured is a mockup of "Little Boy," the atomic bomb that was
dropped that morning on Hiroshima.

The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson 
on this day in 1965.

Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini)
(September 26, 1897 – August 6, 1978)

Sir Alexander Fleming (August 6, 1881 – March 11, 1955) 

Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist Alexander Fleming 
shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for helping
to discover the antibiotic substance penicillin in 1928. His discovery
marked the start of modes antibiotics, which changed the medical
world forever. He worked in shipping before going to medical school
at the recommendation of his brother.