Hurricane Katrina slams into Gulf Coast

Born on This Day

Jackie Mitchell

1913 - 1987

Second woman to earn a professional baseball contract who, at age 17, struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during an exhibition game.

Charlie Parker

1920 - 1955

Jazz saxophonist and composer who was a leading figure in the creation of bebop thanks to songs like “Ko-Ko.”

Temple Grandin

1947 -

Professor, author and autism advocate known for her groundbreaking work in the animal behavior field.

Jackie MitchellGeorge Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images

Charlie ParkerBettmann Archive

Temple GrandinWireImage

1863

AUG29

The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley sinks off Charleston, South Carolina, killing most of its crew. Refloated, it sinks again in October 1863 and February 1864—but not before becoming the first sub to sink an enemy warship.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on August 29th

Shays’ Rebellion

Farmers and Revolution War veterans rebelled over debt relief.

North and South clash at the Second Battle of Bull Run

Confederate General Robert E. Lee deals a stinging defeat to Union General John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Virginia—a battle that arose out of the failure of Union General George McClellan’s Peninsular campaign earlier in the summer. Frustrated with McClellan, who was still camped on the James Peninsula southeast of Richmond, President […]

Charles F. Kettering, inventor of electric self-starter, is born

Charles Franklin Kettering, the American engineer and longtime director of research for General Motors Corp. (GM), is born on August 29, 1876, in Loudonville, Ohio. Of the 140 patents Kettering obtained over the course of his lifetime, perhaps the most notable was his electric self-starter for the automobile, patented in 1915. Early in his career, […]

Ishi discovered in California

Early in the morning of August 29, 1911, two butchers hear dogs barking in the corral of their slaughterhouse outside Oroville, California. When they go out to check, they encounter Ishi, believed to be the last surviving member of the Native American Yahi tribe. By the first decade of the 20th century, Euro-Americans had so […]

Women join British war effort

On August 29, 1914, with World War I approaching the end of its first month, the Women’s Defense Relief Corps is formed in Britain. Though women’s rights organizations in Britain had initially opposed the country’s entrance into the First World War, they reversed their position soon enough, recognizing the potential of the war effort to […]

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Soviets explode atomic bomb

At a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.” In order to measure the effects of the blast, the Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb. They also placed animals in cages nearby so that […]

Michael Jackson is born

Pop sensation Michael Jackson is born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. Jackson began performing with his four brothers in the pop group the Jackson 5 when he was a child. The group scored its first No. 1 single in 1969, with “I Want You Back.” By age 11, Jackson was appearing on TV, […]

Thousands of Mexican American anti-war activists march in Chicano Moratorium

On August 29, 1970, more than 20,000 Mexican Americans march through East Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam War in what’s known as the Chicano Moratorium.

Native American group occupies Mount Rushmore to protest broken Treaty of Fort Laramie

Around dusk on the evening on August 29, 1970, a group of 23 Native American activists climbs to the top of Mount Rushmore. Renaming the landmark Crazy Horse Mountain, in honor of the Lakota Sioux leader who famously resisted white Americans’ incursions into the area, the protesters are there to reclaim land they believe to […]

Actor Ingrid Bergman dies on her birthday

On August 29, 1982, Swedish-born actor and three-time Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman dies of cancer on her 67th birthday.

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Brazilian marathoner assaulted at Olympics

On August 29, 2004, Brazilian distance runner Vanderlei de Lima is attacked by a spectator while running the marathon, the final event of the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. At the time of the incident, De Lima had a 30-second lead in the race with four miles to go. De Lima, whom few had picked […]

Richard Jewell, hero security guard wrongly accused as Olympic bombing suspect, dies

Richard Jewell, the hero security guard turned Olympic bombing suspect, dies at age 44 of natural causes at his Georgia home. On July 27, 1996, during the Summer Games in Atlanta, a pipe bomb with nails went off in crowded Centennial Olympic Park, killing one woman and injuring 111 other people. Shortly before the explosion, […]

Republican John McCain selects Sarah Palin as his running mate

Taking a calculated risk to appeal to conservative voters, Republican presidential nominee John McCain sets the political world abuzz when he announces the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on August 29, 2008. At the time, Palin, a 44-year-old rising star known for her conservative stances and folksy charm, became the […]

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