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Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon

Born on This Day

Frida Kahlo

1907 - 1954

Mexican painter known for her provocative Surrealist self-portraits exploring themes of identity, illness and death.

Sylvester Stallone

1946 -

Actor, writer and director who found fame with the "Rocky" and "Rambo" franchises.

Janet Leigh

1927 - 2004

American actress best known for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s "Psycho" (1960).

Frida KahloBettmann Archive

Sylvester StalloneGetty Images for Paramount+

Janet LeighCorbis via Getty Images

1921

JUL6

Sargeant Stubby, a bull terrier mutt, receives a gold medal from America's WWI commanding general John Pershing for “heroism of highest caliber” in 17 battles. Among his heroic deeds: catching a German spy by biting his legs.

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 6th

Congress issues a “Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms”

On July 6, 1775, one day after restating their fidelity to King George III and wishing him “a long and prosperous reign” in the Olive Branch Petition, Congress sets “forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms” against British authority in the American colonies. The declaration also proclaimed their preference “to die free […]

Continental Congress sets the dollar as the official U.S. currency

On July 6, 1785, the Continental Congress establishes the dollar as the official currency of the newly established United States, paving the way for a national monetary system. The fledgling nation had just won the Revolutionary War, and the creation of a national currency marked one of its first steps in stabilizing and establishing its […]

Warren Earp killed in Arizona

Warren Earp, the youngest of the famous clan of gun fighting brothers, is murdered in an Arizona saloon. Nicholas and Virginia Earp raised a family of five sons and four daughters on a series of farms in Illinois and Iowa. Three of the Earps’ sons grew up to win lasting infamy. On October 26, 1881, […]

Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game is held

On July 6, 1933, Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game took place at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. The brainchild of a determined sports editor, the event was designed to bolster the sport and improve its reputation during the darkest years of the Great Depression. Originally billed as a one-time “Game of the Century,” it has now […]

Dalai Lama, leader of Tibet, is born

On July 6, an infant named Tenzin Gyatso, future leader of Tibet, is born to a peasant family in Takster, Tibet. At age two, he will be declared the Dalai Lama. In 1937, the child was declared the reincarnation of a great Buddhist spiritual leader and named the 14th Dalai Lama. His leadership rights were exercised […]

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Anne Frank’s family takes refuge

In Nazi-occupied Holland, 13-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family are forced to take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The day before, Anne’s older sister, Margot, had received a call-up notice to be deported to a Nazi “work camp.” Born in Germany on June 12, 1929, Anne Frank fled […]

Fire engulfs circus big top in Hartford, killing 167

In Hartford, Connecticut, a fire breaks out under the big top of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus, killing 167 people and injuring 682. Two-thirds of those who perished were children. The cause of the fire was unknown, but it spread at incredible speed, racing up the canvas of the circus tent. Scarcely before […]

George Walker Bush is born

On July 6, 1946, George Walker Bush—the son of 41st U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush—is born in New Haven, Connecticut. George W. Bush went on to become the 43rd U.S. president. When he was two years old, Bush’s parents moved to Texas. where the elder Bush worked in the oil industry. Bush was nicknamed […]

George “Bugs” Moran is arrested

FBI agents arrest George “Bugs” Moran, along with fellow crooks Virgil Summers and Albert Fouts, in Kentucky. Once one of the biggest organized crime figures in America, Moran had been reduced to small bank robberies by this time. He died in prison 11 years later. Bugs Moran’s criminal career took an abrupt downturn after the […]

John Lennon meets Paul McCartney for the first time

On July 6, 1957, two Liverpool music-minded teenagers named John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time in a church auditorium. It would be the start of one of the most fruitful musical partnerships in history. Seven years later, they—along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr—would become worldwide phenomenon known as the Beatles. […]

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Civil war breaks out in Nigeria

Five weeks after its secession from Nigeria, the breakaway Republic of Biafra is attacked by Nigerian government forces. In 1960, Nigeria gained independence from Britain. The new country was formed from a colonial amalgamation of different regions with different majority ethnic groups, including the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa-Fulani. Six years later, a set of back-to-back […]

First women inducted into the U.S. Naval Academy

In Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Naval Academy admits women for the first time in its history with the induction of 81 female midshipmen. In May 1980, Elizabeth Anne Rowe became the first woman member of the class to graduate. Four years later, Kristine Holderied became the first female midshipman to graduate at the top […]

“Forrest Gump” opens, winning Tom Hanks a second Oscar

On July 6, 1994, the movie Forrest Gump opens in U.S. theaters. A huge box-office success, the film starred Tom Hanks in the title role of Forrest, a good-hearted man with a low I.Q. who winds up at the center of key cultural and historical events of the second half of the 20th century. Forrest Gump was […]

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