On This Day - What Happened on July 2 (2024)

1964

Civil Rights Act signed

Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum; photograph, Cecil Stoughton

Thurgood Marshall

United States jurist

born

July 2, 1908
Baltimore, Maryland

died

January 24, 1993 (aged 84)
Bethesda, Maryland

National Archives, Washington, D.C. (2803441)

2016

Romanian-born Jewish writer Elie Wiesel, who won the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize largely for his works that provide a sober yet passionate testament of the destruction of European Jewry during World War II, died at age 87. Test your knowledge of the Nobel Prize

Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa/Alamy

2008

More than six years after being taken hostage by FARC guerrillas, Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt was freed during a rescue mission in which army soldiers posed as international aid workers. Take our quiz about Latin American history

2002

American adventurer Steve Fossett became the first balloonist to circumnavigate the world alone. Test your knowledge of aircraft and aviation

1997

American actor James Stewart—who came to personify a decent everyman struggling to overcome difficult circ*mstances while rising to heroic stature in the process—died at age 89. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about A-list actors

Culver Pictures

1979

The United States first issued the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, making Anthony the first woman to be depicted on U.S. currency. Take our quiz about famous firsts for women

© Stanley Marquardt/Fotolia

1962

American businessman Sam Walton opened the first Walmart (then known as Wal-Mart) store, in Rogers, Arkansas; it was the start of what would become the largest retail sales chain in the United States. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about famous Americans

Robin Nelson—ZUMA Press/Alamy

1937

The airplane piloted by American aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during her attempt to fly around the world. Test your knowledge of early aviation

Culver Pictures

1932

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term “New Deal” in his acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination. How much do you know about U.S. presidents?

UPI/Bettmann Archive

1925

Medgar Evers, an African American activist whose murder in 1963 received national attention and made him a martyr to the cause of the civil rights movement, was born in Decatur, Mississippi. Read a timeline of the American civil rights movement

© Archive Photos

1925

Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960), was born in Onalua, Belgian Congo. Take our quiz about African leaders

AP Images

1923

Polish poet Wisława Szymborska—who rejected Socialist Realism to pen intelligent and empathetic verse that explored philosophical and moral issues, for which she won the 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature—was born. Test your knowledge of Nobel laureates in literature

Czarek Sokolowski—AP/REX/Shutterstock.com

1900

The first flight of a zeppelin took place as the airship departed a floating hangar on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany. Take our quiz about the history of flight

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

1881

Shot on this day, U.S. President James A. Garfield died several weeks later on September 19. Read our list of nine assassins and the world leaders they killed

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

1839

A slave rebellion occurred on the ship Amistad, and in their trial the following year the mutineers, who were deemed to be kidnap victims rather than merchandise, were acquitted—a victory for American abolitionism. How much do you know about the history of slavery in the United States?

Yale University Art Gallery

1822

Denmark Vesey was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, for planning the most extensive slave revolt in U.S. history. Take our quiz about slavery and resistance through history

Andy Murphy/Alamy

1776

After a dramatic all-night ride, Delaware delegate Caesar Rodney arrived just in time to cast the decisive vote approving the Declaration of Independence. Take our quiz about famous documents

National Archives, Washington, D.C.

1644

At the Battle of Marston Moor, Parliamentary forces handed the Royalists their first major defeat in the English Civil Wars. Match the battle with the war in our quiz

Photos.com/Jupiterimages