2019
Baseball player and manager Frank Robinson, who was the first Black manager in Major League Baseball, died at age 82.
2015
American collegiate basketball coach Dean Smith—who recorded 879 career victories, making him one of the most successful men’s collegiate basketball coaches—died at age 83.
1999
Abdullah II became king of Jordan hours after the death of his father, Hussein.
1986
In the wake of political unrest, Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier fled his country, with U.S. assistance, for France.
1974
Grenada gained independence from the United Kingdom.
1966
American comedian Chris Rock, who became known for his stand-up routines and films, was born.
1940
The animated film Pinocchio had its world premiere, and it became one of Disney’s most beloved classics, known for its brilliant animation and compelling story.
1885
Sinclair Lewis, an American novelist and social critic who punctured national complacency with his broadly drawn, widely popular satiric novels and who in 1930 became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, was born.
1812
One of the largest earthquakes in U.S. history occurred along the New Madrid Fault.
1613
Michael Romanov, founder of the Romanov dynasty, became tsar of Russia.
1477
English humanist and statesman Sir Thomas More was born in London.
