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Scopes Monkey Trial begins

Born on This Day

Arthur Ashe

1943 - 1993

Tennis player, AIDS activist and the first Black man to win singles titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.

Mary McLeod Bethune

1875 - 1955

Educator, civil rights activist, presidential advisor and founder of the National Council of Negro Women.

Arlo Guthrie

1947 -

Singer-songwriter whose anti-Vietnam War folk hit "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" made him a counterculture hero.

Arthur AsheGetty Images

Mary McLeod BethuneGetty Images

Arlo GuthrieBettmann Archive

1553

JUL10

Lady Jane Grey begins her nine-day reign as Queen of England, the shortest stint for a British monarch in history. Her Catholic cousin Mary deposed her, tried her for treason and, after initially letting her live, had her beheaded.

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 10th

Andrew Jackson vetoes re-charter of the Second Bank of the U.S.

On July 10, 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoes the government’s effort to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States, one of his most forceful actions against the institution, which he opposed as corrupt and in service only to the country’s elite. His veto marked a key salvo in what is referred to as the […]

Millard Fillmore sworn in as 13th U.S. president

On July 10, 1850, Vice President Millard Fillmore is sworn in as the 13th president of the United States. President Zachary Taylor had died the day before, five days after falling ill with a severe intestinal ailment on the Fourth of July. Fillmore was only the second man to inherit the presidency after a president’s […]

“Buckskin” Frank Leslie murders his lover

In a drunken rage, “Buckskin” Frank Leslie murders his lover, the Tombstone sex worker Mollie Edwards, a.k.a. Blonde Mollie Williams. Leslie was an ill-tempered and violent man, especially when he drank. He told conflicting stories about his early life. At times, he said he was from Texas, at other times from Kentucky. He sometimes claimed […]

Pioneering Black doctor performs successful open-heart surgery

On July 10, 1893, trailblazing physician Daniel Hale Williams successfully performs one of the world’s first open-heart surgeries at Provident Hospital in Chicago. Not only is he a pioneer of the procedure; he is one of just three African American physicians practicing in Chicago at a time when many white-run hospitals refused to treat Black […]

The Battle of Britain begins

On July 10, 1940, the Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins. After the occupation of France by Germany, Britain knew it was only a matter of time before the Axis power turned its […]

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Allies land on Sicily

On July 10, 1943, the Allies begin their invasion of Axis-controlled Europe with landings on the island of Sicily, off mainland Italy. Encountering little resistance from the demoralized Sicilian troops, the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery came ashore on the southeast of the island, while the U.S. 7th Army under General […]

U.S. patent issued for three-point seatbelt

The United States Patent Office issues the Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin a patent for his three-point automobile safety belt “for use in vehicles, especially road vehicles” on July 10, 1962. Four years earlier, Sweden’s Volvo Car Corporation had hired Bohlin, who had previously worked in the Swedish aviation industry, as the company’s first chief safety […]

Two bombs sink the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace’s flagship vessel

In Auckland harbor in New Zealand, Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior sinks after French agents in diving gear plant two bombs on the hull of the vessel. One person, Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira, was killed. The Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of international conservation group Greenpeace, had been preparing for a protest voyage to a French nuclear test […]

The Exxon Valdez captain’s conviction is overturned

The Alaska court of appeals overturns the conviction of Joseph Hazelwood, the former captain of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez. Hazelwood, who was found guilty of negligence for his role in the massive oil spill in Prince William Sound in 1989, successfully argued that he was entitled to immunity from prosecution because he had reported […]

Last of Thai soccer team rescued from cave

In a search and rescue scramble that gripped the world’s attention for more than two weeks, the last of 12 Thai youth soccer players and their coach are safely rescued and transported to a local hospital on July 10, 2018. On June 23, 2018, Ekkapol Chantawong, 25, and his players, who ranged in age from […]

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