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Mount Vesuvius erupts

Born on This Day

Marsha P. Johnson

1945 - 1992

African American transgender activist who played a pivotal role in the Stonewall Riots and the early LGBTQ+ movement.

Cal Ripken Jr.

1960 -

Baseball player who spent 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. Known for his 2,632 consecutive games streak.

Marlee Matlin

1965 -

Actor known for her Oscar-winning role in Children of a Lesser God and her advocacy work for the deaf community.

Marsha P. JohnsonGetty Images

Cal Ripken Jr.FilmMagic

Marlee MatlinWireImage

1975

AUG24

The band Queen enters a recording studio in Wales to begin the sessions that will produce “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Because the finished song runs nearly six minutes, record execs fear radio stations will never play it.

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 24th

Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

King Charles IX of France, under the sway of his mother, Catherine de Medici, orders the assassination of Huguenot Protestant leaders in Paris, setting off an orgy of killing that results in the massacre of tens of thousands of Huguenots all across France. Two days earlier, Catherine had ordered the murder of Admiral Gaspard de […]

British troops set fire to the White House

On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812 between the United States and England, British troops enter Washington, D.C. and burn the White House in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada, in June 1813. When the British arrived at the White House, they found that President James […]

George Washington’s portrait saved from British looters

On August 24, 1814, an iconic portrait of George Washington is removed from the White House walls, to prevent it being looted by British troops during the War of 1812. Later, first lady Dolley Madison takes credit for the save. According to the White House Historical Society and Dolley’s personal letters, President James Madison left […]

Spain accepts Mexican independence

Eleven years after the outbreak of the Mexican War of Independence, Spanish Viceroy Juan de O’Donojú signs the Treaty of Córdoba, which approves a plan to make Mexico an independent constitutional monarchy. In the early 19th century, Napoleon’s occupation of Spain led to the outbreak of revolts all across Spanish America. On September 16, 1810, […]

Elusive Mount of the Holy Cross photographed

William Henry Jackson becomes the first person to photograph Colorado’s elusive Mount of the Holy Cross, providing reliable proof of its existence. Rumors had abounded for years that a natural cross of snow lay hidden high in the rugged mountains of Colorado. Many claimed to have seen the cross, but others were unable to find […]

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Poet Alan Seeger volunteers in French army

On August 24, 1914, the American poet Alan Seeger volunteers for service in the French Foreign Legion during the First World War. Born in New York City in 1888, Seeger attended Harvard University, where his illustrious classmates in the Class of 1910 included the poet John Reed and the journalist Walter Lippmann. After living in […]

Hitler suspends euthanasia program

On August 24, 1941, Adolf Hitler orders that the systematic murder of the mentally ill and handicapped be brought to an end because of protests within Germany. In 1939, Dr. Viktor Brack, head of Hitler’s Euthanasia Department, oversaw the creation of the T.4 program, which began as the systematic killing of children deemed “mentally defective.” […]

Congress passes Communist Control Act

Congress passes the Communist Control Act in response to the growing anticommunist hysteria in the United States. Though full of ominous language, many found the purpose of the act unclear. In 1954, the Red Scare still raged in the United States. Although Senator Joseph McCarthy, the most famous of the “red hunters” in America, had […]

U.S. unit refuses commander’s order

Company A of the Third Battalion, 196th Light Infantry Brigade refuses the order of its commander, Lieutenant Eugene Schurtz, Jr., to continue an attack that had been launched to reach a downed helicopter shot down in the Que Son valley, 30 miles south of Da Nang. The unit had been in fierce combat for five […]

John Lennon’s killer sentenced

Mark David Chapman is sentenced for the murder of John Lennon.

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Pluto is demoted

In Prague on August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union votes to demote Pluto from the ninth planet from the Sun to one of dozens of known dwarf planets. The vote followed a week of debate by the IAU, who voted on multiple proposals including one that kept not just Pluto as a planet but added two […]

Killer in Norway massacre is sentenced

On August 24, 2012, the man who killed 77 people in a July 22, 2011, bombing and shooting attack in Norway is sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum allowed under Norwegian law. Anders Behring Breivik, a 33-year-old right-wing extremist with anti-Muslim views, carried out attacks in Oslo, the nation’s capital, and at a […]

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