2012
National debates about racism and racial profiling ensued after Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager returning from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida, was fatally shot by a neighbourhood-watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, who later successfully argued that he had acted in self-defense.
1993
The World Trade Center in New York City was bombed in an act of terrorism, and Islamic radicals were later convicted for the crime.
1951
American novelist James Jones published From Here to Eternity, about the U.S. Army in Hawaii before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
1929
Grand Teton National Park was established in Wyoming; in 1950 it was expanded to include most of Jackson Hole National Monument.
1928
American singer and pianist Fats Domino, a rhythm-and-blues standout who became one of the first rock-and-roll stars, was born.
1919
The U.S. Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in northwestern Arizona.
1885
The Berlin West Africa Conference concluded, the major European countries having staked claims to their colonial expansions in Central Africa.
1802
Victor Hugo, a poet, novelist, and dramatist who was the most important of the French Romantic writers, was born.
