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President William McKinley is shot

Born on This Day

Marquis de Lafayette

1757 - 1834

French aristocrat who fought with the colonists in the American Revolution.

Rosie Perez

1964 -

American actor who brought a feisty personality and Brooklyn accent to films like Do the Right Thing and White Men Can’t Jump.

Idris Elba

1972 -

British actor who played a canny drug kingpin in “The Wire,” a complicated cop in “Luther” and a Norse god in the Thor movies.

Marquis de LafayetteGetty Images

Rosie PerezGetty Images

Idris ElbaGetty Images

1916

SEP6

Piggly-Wiggly, the first self-serve grocery store, opens in Memphis, Tennessee, ending the age when the only way to buy groceries was to have a clerk assemble your order behind a counter.

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 6th

Magellan’s expedition circumnavigates globe

One of Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships—the Victoria—arrives at Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the world. The Victoria was commanded by Basque navigator Juan Sebastian de Elcano, who took charge of the vessel after Magellan was killed in the Philippines in April 1521. During a long, hard journey home, the people on […]

Benedict Arnold orders burning of New London

On September 6, 1781, British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, a former Patriot officer already infamous and much maligned for betraying the United States the previous year, adds to his notoriety by ordering his British command to burn New London, Connecticut. The Continental Army had been using New London to store a large stash of military […]

Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden and moves in with the Emersons

On September 6, 1847, writer Henry David Thoreau moves in with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family in Concord, Massachusetts, after living for two years in a shack he built himself on Walden Pond. Thoreau graduated from Harvard and started a school with his brother. But in 1839, he decided while on a canoe trip […]

First Battle of the Marne begins

On September 6, 1914, some 30 miles northeast of Paris, the French 6th Army under the command of General Michel-Joseph Manoury attacks the right flank of the German 1st Army, beginning the decisive First Battle of the Marne at the end of the first month of World War I. After invading neutral Belgium and advancing […]

South African prime minister and architect of apartheid assassinated

South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is stabbed to death by a messenger during a parliamentary meeting in Cape Town. The assailant, Demetrio Tsafendas, was a Mozambique immigrant of mixed racial descent—part Greek and part Swazi. As minister of native affairs and later as South African leader, Verwoerd oversaw the introduction and application of South […]

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More Israeli hostages killed in Munich

At Furstenfeldbruck air base near Munich, an attempt by West German police to rescue nine Israeli Olympic team members held hostage by Palestinian terrorists ends in disaster. In an extended firefight that began at 11 p.m. September 5 and lasted until 1:30 a.m. on September 6, all nine Israeli hostages were killed, as were five […]

Teen tennis star Navratilova seeks political asylum in U.S.

On September 6, 1975, 18-year-old rising tennis star Martina Navratilova—who would become one of the greatest players of all time—asks for political asylum in the United States after defecting from communist Czechoslovakia. Navratilova flourished on the court between May and September 1975, finishing runner-up in the Australian and French Open. At the U.S. Open, Navratilova […]

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. breaks record for consecutive games played

On September 6, 1995, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking “Iron Horse” Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive games played. “The Iron Man” was credited with reviving interest in baseball after a 1994 work stoppage forced the cancellation of the World Series and soured fans on the national […]

Some 2.5 billion TV viewers watch Princess Diana’s funeral

On September 6, 1997, an estimated 2.5 billion people around the globe tune in to television broadcasts of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, who died at the age of 36 in a car crash in Paris the week before. During her 15-year marriage to Prince Charles, the son of Queen Elizabeth II and […]

Off-duty police officer mistakenly enters neighbor’s apartment and shoots its owner to death

On September 6, 2018, off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger fatally shoots Botham Jean in his own apartment. Guyer was the first Dallas cop to be convicted of murder since 1973.

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