Today in History

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress prohibiting discrimination and segregation based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin.

On this date

1776: The Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

1881: President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September. (Guiteau was hanged in June 1882.)

1917: Rioting erupted in East St. Louis, Illinois, as white mobs attacked Black residents; at least 50 and as many as 200 people, most of them Black, are believed to have died in the violence.

1937: Aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight along the equator.

1976: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Gregg v. Georgia, ruled 7-2 that the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

1986: Ruling in a pair of cases, the Supreme Court upheld affirmative action as a remedy for past job discrimination.

Today’s birthdays

Racing Hall of Famer Richard Petty is 88. Writer-director-comedian Larry David is 78. Actor-model Jerry Hall is 69. Former baseball player Jose Canseco is 61. Race car driver Sam Hornish Jr. is 46. Retired figure skater Johnny Weir is 41. Actor Lindsay Lohan is 39. Former professional soccer player Alex Morgan is 36. U.S. Olympic swimming gold medalist Ryan Murphy is 30.