This Day In History: June 17, 1631 When the princess Arjumand Banu Begum met the future Mughal Emperor Prince Khurram, it was a rare case of royal love at first sight. The prince, who was by then known as Shah Jahan, had two other wives, but it was no secret that he only had eyes for the one he named […]

This Day In History: June 16, 1884 Much to the delight of thrill-seekers everywhere, the first rollercoaster made its debut at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York on June 16, 1884. Known as a switchback railway, the rollercoaster that customers paid a nickel to ride on that day bore little resemblance to the coasters we’re familiar with now. The brainchild […]

This Day In History: June 13, 1777 Inspired by the struggles of the American colonists to free themselves from the tyranny of English rule, a 19-year-old French aristocrat set sail from his homeland to volunteer his aid. He paid for his own ship and travel expenses since the colonists could not afford to finance his voyage, and passed the time […]

This Day In History: June 12, 1381 The Peasants’ Revolt in England started suddenly, but the seeds were sown many years beforehand. The Black Death during the earlier part of the 14th century caused a serious shortage of workers, which gave the peasant class the option to choose where they worked – a freedom that was unheard of in feudal […]

This Day In History: June 11, 1963 On June 11, 1963, a 67-year-old Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc walked into the middle of a busy intersection in South Vietnam and calmly sat in the lotus position. With the assistance of several accompanying monks, he doused himself in gasoline. He was very clear about the reasons for what he was […]

This Day In History: June 10, 1540 Thomas Cromwell sprang from humble beginnings but managed to shrewdly navigate the Tudor court and became King Henry VIII’s most trusted adviser. By 1540, the King had created him the Earl of Essex and he was Lord Privy Seal. Cromwell was one of England’s most influential statesmen, radically changing the course of its […]

This Day In History: June 9, 68 On June 9, 68 C.E., the 95 year reign of the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end, ushering in an era of unrest and civil war. One of Rome’s most ruthless and notorious leaders, who was responsible not only for the deaths of countless innocent subjects and Christians but also his own mother […]

This Day In History: June 6, 1933 On this day in 1933, amorous teenagers and parents lacking a babysitter had reason to rejoice when curious patrons drove onto the grounds of Park-In Theaters, the world’s first drive-in located in Camden, New Jersey. The drive-in’s slogan was “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.” Great. The […]

This Day In History: June 5, 1968 The United States in 1968 was a country torn by violence and divided by a political chasm so wide and bitter that any positive, unifying force seemed unimaginable. Then an infectiously optimistic young Senator galvanized even the most disenfranchised among us with his vision of what America should, could, and would be under […]

This Day In History: June 4, 1912 The state of Massachusetts enacted the nation’s first minimum wage law on June 4, 1912. The law only protected women and children, but since these groups were the ones most often exploited by unscrupulous employers (relatively speaking), it made a huge difference to those toiling in sweat shops six days a week for […]

This Day In History: June 3, 1937 June 3, 1937 was the day that the British Royal family had desperately hoped would never come. For it was on that day that the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, took Wallis Warfield Simpson as his wife during a private civil ceremony in France. Prince Edward, or David as the Duke […]

Today in History: June 2, 455 Rome was already taking its last breaths when the Vandals came to town on June 2, 455 C.E. and began the sacking of the dying city, something the Vandals proved to be very good at across the Western Empire: crush floundering cities and kingdoms into complete oblivion. And under Gaiseric’s very capable rule, they […]

Today in History: May 30, 1593 The Bad Boy of Elizabethan England, playwright Christopher Marlowe, was stabbed in a tavern and died on this day in 1593. The story goes that Marlowe was killed in an altercation involving a bar tab, but extenuating circumstances would suggest that other factors may have been involved in the writer’s untimely demise at age […]

This Day In History: May 29, 1765 Patrick Henry was a lawyer, orator and statesmen whose career, mostly in the service of the state of Virginia, spanned from the earliest calls for independence through the founding of the United States of America. He’s probably best known for his “give me liberty, or give me death” speech delivered a decade later, […]

This Day In History: May 29, 1923 On May 29, 1923, the U.S. Attorney General gave the women of America the legal green light to wear slacks anywhere they wished – even in public. It seems a bit odd ninety years later that grown women needed an OK from the government when making fashion choices, but they weren’t even given […]

This Day In History May 27, 1704 The magnificent city of St. Peterburg, one of the greatest cultural, commercial and technological hubs of Russia (and its second largest city), is a Johnny-come-lately by European standards. It was founded on May 27, 1704 by Peter the Great, and has the distinction of being one the world’s first cities to be designed […]

This Day In History: May 26, 1647 On May 26, 1647, Alse Young of Windsor, Connecticut had the dubious distinction of becoming the first person to be executed for the crime of witchcraft in the American colonies. In the newly formed New England colonies, witchcraft was considered a capital crime by the Puritans (no big surprise there), and before 1662 […]

This Day In History: May 23, 1934 On May 23, 1934, the crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde, who spent over a year playing a game of cat-and-mouse with law enforcement, ended in a barrage of bullets during a police ambush. In spite of the horrific nature of their crimes, including murder, Bonnie and Clyde have become romanticized folk heroes […]