Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King Jnr.

President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act

Born on This Day

Portrait Of Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers

Medgar Evers

1925 - 1963

Activist and NAACP organizer whose 1963 assassination drew international attention to the civil rights movement.

Sylvia Rivera At Pier 48

Sylvia Rivera

1951 - 2002

Latina American drag queen who took part in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Transgender advocate of the 1970s.

Winter Olympics - Celebrity Appearances

Johnny Weir

1984 -

Figure skater, television commentator and two-time Olympian known for his outlandish style.

Medgar EversGetty Images

Sylvia RiveraGetty Images

Johnny WeirGetty Images

1992

JUL2

The one-millionth Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Swallowed by a sinkhole there in 2014, the sports car has since been restored to its former glory.

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 July 2nd

Continental Congress votes for independence from Britain

The Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, formally adopts Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote is unanimous, with only New York abstaining. The resolution had originally been presented to Congress on June 7, but it soon became clear that New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina were […]

1:34m read read

Mutiny on the Amistad

Early in the morning, enslaved Africans on the Cuban schooner Amistad rise up against their captors, killing two crewmembers and seizing control of the ship, which had been transporting them to a life of slavery on a sugar plantation at Puerto Principe, Cuba. In 1807, the U.S. Congress joined with Great Britain in abolishing the […]

Fighting continues at the Battle of Gettysburg

On July 2, 1863, during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia attacks General George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac at both Culp’s Hill and Little Round Top, but fails to move the Yankees from their positions. On the north end of the […]

1:22m read read

Salvation Army founded

In the East End of London on July 2, 1865, revivalist preacher William Booth and his wife Catherine establish the Christian Mission, later known as the Salvation Army. Determined to wage war against the evils of poverty and religious indifference with military efficiency, Booth modeled his Methodist sect after the British army, labeling uniformed ministers […]

1:18m read read

President James A. Garfield shot

Only four months into his administration, President James A. Garfield is shot as he walks through a railroad waiting room in Washington, D.C. His assailant, Charles J. Guiteau, was a disgruntled and perhaps deranged office seeker who had unsuccessfully sought an appointment to the U.S. consul in Paris. The president was shot in the back […]

1:14m read read

Amelia Earhart disappears

On July 2, 1937, the Lockheed aircraft carrying American aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan is reported missing near Howland Island in the Pacific. The pair were attempting to fly around the world when they lost their bearings during the most challenging leg of the global journey: Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island, a […]

Soviet Union rejects Marshall Plan assistance

Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov walks out of a meeting with representatives of the British and French governments, signaling the Soviet Union’s rejection of the Marshall Plan. Molotov’s action indicated that Cold War frictions between the United States and Russia were intensifying. On June 4, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a […]

“Gonna Fly Now (Theme From ‘Rocky’)” is the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts

On July 2, 1977, Hollywood composer Bill Conti scores a #1 pop hit with the single “Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky).” Bill Conti was a relative unknown in Hollywood when he began work on Rocky, but so was Sylvester Stallone. Conti had gained some attention internationally with his work on several early 1970s Italian […]

1:24m read read

Pilgrim stampede kills 1,400

A stampede of religious pilgrims in a pedestrian tunnel in Mecca leaves more than 1,400 people dead on July 2, 1990. This was at the time the most deadly of a series of incidents over 20 years affecting Muslims making the trip to Mecca. To the followers of Islam, traveling to Mecca in Saudi Arabia […]

1:42m read read

Stephen Hawking breaks British bestseller records

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking breaks British publishing records on July 2, 1992 when his book A Brief History of Time remains on the nonfiction bestseller list for three and a half years, selling more than 3 million copies in 22 languages. A Brief History of Time explained the latest theories on the origins of the […]

“Men in Black” premieres in theaters

On July 2, 1997, the science fiction-comedy movie Men in Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, opens in theaters around the United States. The film grossed more than $250 million in America alone and helped establish the former sitcom star Will Smith as one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men. Directed by Barry […]

2:24m read read

U.S. withdraws from Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan

On July 2, 2021, the United States vacates Bagram Airfield, the U.S. Air Force Base north of Kabul, and turns it over to Afghan forces, a major milestone in the longest war in U.S. military history. Bagram, previously used by the Soviet Union to store aircraft hangars, had become the epicenter of the U.S. occupation. […]

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