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Lascaux cave paintings discovered

Born on This Day

Richard Gatling

1818 - 1903

American inventor best known for patenting the Gatling gun, a precursor to the modern machine gun, in 1862.

Jesse Owens

1913 - 1980

American athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, thwarting Hitler’s aim to prove Aryan superiority.

Yao Ming

1980 -

Shanghai-born basketball player who led the Houston Rockets to the playoffs four times and helped popularize the sport in China.

Richard GatlingHulton Archive/Getty Images

Jesse OwensBettmann Archive

Yao MingGetty Images

1952

SEP12

Investigating the possible crash of a UFO, residents of Flatwoods, West Virginia, encounter a creature they describe as 10 feet tall, with glowing eyes and claw-like hands. Skeptics dismiss the “monster” as likely an owl.

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 September 12th

Poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope

Elizabeth Barrett elopes with Robert Browning on September 12, 1846. Barrett was already a respected poet who had published literary criticism and Greek translations in addition to poetry. Her first volume of poetry, The Seraphim and Other Poems, appeared in 1838, followed by Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett (1844). Born in 1806 near Durham, England, […]

The Laconia is sunk

A German U-boat sinks a British troop ship, the Laconia, killing more than 1,400 men on September 12, 1942. The commander of the German sub, Capt. Werner Hartenstein, realizing that Italians POWs were among the passengers, strove to aid in their rescue. The Laconia, a former Cunard White Star ship put to use to transport […]

Singer-songwriter Barry White is born

On September 12, 1944, in Galveston, Texas, pop singer Barry White—or “the Maestro”—is born. He went on to have a stunningly successful career as a singer that spanned five decades, and made him a star of the disco era. Having written several new songs and recorded his vocals for demo purposes only, White was surprised […]

Sugar Ray Robinson wins back middleweight belt

On September 12, 1951, former middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Randy Turpin to win back the belt in front of 61,370 spectators at the Polo Grounds in New York City.

John F. Kennedy marries Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island

Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy, the future 35th president of the United States, marries Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island on September 12, 1953. Seven years later, the couple would become the youngest president and first lady in American history. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was born into a prominent New York family in 1929 and grew into […]

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Nikita Khrushchev announced as the Soviet Union’s new leader

Six months after the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev succeeds him with the September 12, 1953 announcement of his election as first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The actual vote took place in a plenary session several days earlier. Born into a Russian peasant family in 1894, Khrushchev […]

Hopalong Cassidy rides off into his last sunset

After nearly 40 years of riding across millions of American TV and movie screens, the cowboy actor William Boyd, best known for his role as Hopalong Cassidy, dies on September 12, 1972 at the age of 77. Boyd’s greatest achievement was to be the first cowboy actor to make the transition from movies to television. […]

Violence erupts in Boston over desegregation busing

In Boston, Massachusetts, opposition to court-ordered school “busing” turns violent on the opening day of classes. School buses carrying African American children were pelted with eggs, bricks and bottles, and police in combat gear fought to control angry white protesters besieging the schools. U.S. District Judge Arthur Garrity ordered the busing of African American students […]

Hurricane Gilbert slams Jamaica

Hurricane Gilbert slams into Jamaica, killing hundreds of people, on September 12, 1988. The storm went on to cause death and destruction in Mexico and spur a batch of tornadoes in Texas. On September 10, Gilbert attained hurricane status west of the Dominican Republic. Barometer readings fell precipitously there the following day, eventually reaching 26.13, […]

Mae Jemison becomes first Black woman in space

On September 12, 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison, a Peace Corps physician who dreamt about space travel from a young age, becomes the first African American woman to go into space. Jemison, 35 at the time of the launch, is one of seven astronauts on the eight-day flight aboard the space shuttle Endeavor on mission STS-47, […]

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New floating bridge opens in Seattle; I-90 stretches from coast to coast

On September 12, 1993, the rebuilt Lacey V. Murrow Bridge over Lake Washington opens in Seattle. The bridge completes I-90’s transcontinental stretch from Boston to Seattle.

Harlem Globetrotters’ 8,829 game-winning streak snapped

On September 12, 1995, the Harlem Globetrotters lose to a team of retired basketball stars, snapping their 8,829 game-winning streak. It was the Globetrotters’ first loss since 1971.

First season of “Entourage”—a TV show about life in Hollywood—comes to an end

On September 12, 2004, the first season of the television comedy series “Entourage,” about a hot young actor in Hollywood and the posse of people surrounding him, comes to an end on HBO. “Entourage,” which debuted on July 18, 2004, starred Adrian Grenier as the up-and-coming movie heartthrob Vincent Chase, who is navigating his way […]

Tea Party protest draws thousands to Washington, D.C.

On September 12, 2009, thousands of protesters participate in the “Taxpayer March on Washington,” one of the earliest and biggest Tea Party movement events. Marchers in the nation’s capital clogged streets near the Capitol, railing against President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform proposals, federal spending, taxes and support for women’s reproductive rights, among other issues. Organizers […]

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius convicted of culpable homicide

On September 12, 2014, South African track star Oscar Pistorius is found guilty of culpable homicide for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. It marked a stunning fall for the global sports icon.

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