We must ensure that ongoing generations remember and commemorate the history of this country to learn from the lessons of history to become more involved with their communitites, have a better understanding of how our country came to be what it is, and thus have a better understanding of how to better their country further for a brighter future.
DETAILS ON EVENTS
April 3, 1865 Confederate Capital of Richmond surrendered to Union forces after Robert E. Lee withdrew his troops.
On this Day in History, a key event in the American Civil War brought the bloody civil conflict in America closer to ending when the Union forces of the northern Union states took over the city Richmond, Virginia. Richmond was the capital of the Southern Confederate states and its loss dealt a major impact on the outcome of the civil war which would end just another several days later.
April 4, 1968 Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On this Day in History, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing outside his hotel room on the second floor balcony. He was 39 years old. His assassination sparked riots in cities nationwide, prompting several cities to impose curfews. Martin King Jr. was a huge leading figure in the American civil rights movement. He appealed to the American government to abolish laws which promote segregation and to ensure taht African Americans are ensured equal rights as everyone else in the nation through peaceful protests and civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is when a law is being broken by a person on purpose to claim that the law is unjust.
April 3, 1948
On this day in history, President Harry S. Truman signed the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan, intended to stop the spread of Communism through restoring the economies of European countries devastated by World War II. Over four years, the program distributed $12 billion to the nations of Western Europe. The program was first proposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall during a historic speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. The Marshall plan was one of the huge shifts in American politics. Up to that point America tended to be pretty isolated preferring to not get seriously involved with other nations. However, the Marshall plan was one of the things which changed America making it a much more important nation on the world stage.
April 3, 1995
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to preside over the Court, sitting in for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist who was out of town.
April 4, 1887
On this day in our history, Susanna M. Salter was elected as the first woman mayor when she was electd to the position in Argonia, Kansas.
April 4, 1949
On this day in our history, 12 nations signed a traty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Orginzation. Multiple European nations and America created a large military alliance in order to form a united military resistance against the Soviet Union.
April 6, 1917.
On this day in our history, Congress of the United States voted for entering the war in Europe; the United States joined W.W 1 on the side of the Entente powers which were made up of France, UK, and Imperial Russia primarily. Over 300,000 American lives would be lost in the conflict. Over 10 million lives would be lost world-wide.
April 8, 1913
On this day in history, The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified requiring direct popular election of U.S. senators. Previously, the senators had been chosen by state legislatures.
April 9, 1865
On this day in our history, After over 500,000 American deaths, the Civil War effectively ended as General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in the village of Appomattox Court House. The surrender occurred in the home of Wilmer McLean a simple Virginia wholesale grocer.
April 11, 1968
On this day in history, A week after the assassination of Martin Luther King and centuries of struggles by African Americans to be trated fairly and equally under the law, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The law prohibited discrimination in housing, protected civil rights workers and expanded the rights of Native Americans.
April 12, 1861
On this day in history, The American Civil War began as Confederate troops under the command of General Pierre Beauregard opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The war would least nealy a decade and become one of the bloodiest conflicts America has ever fought (over half a million dead).
April 12, 1945
On this day in our history, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly at Warm Springs, Georgia, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. He had been President since March 4, 1933, elected to four consecutive terms and had guided America out of the Great Depression and through World War II.
April 12, 1961
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. He traveled aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok I and completed a single orbit in a flight lasting 108 minutes. The Russian success intensified the already ongoing Space Race between the Russians and Americans. Twenty-three days later, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. This was followed in 1962 by President Kennedy’s open call to land an American on the moon before the decade’s end.
April 12, 1981
The first space shuttle flight occurred with the launching of Columbia with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen aboard. Columbia spent 54 hours in space, made 36 orbits, then landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
April 14, 1865
President Abraham Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while watching a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington. He was taken to a nearby house and died the following morning. The death of Abraham Lincoln had a drastic effect on the Reconstruction period in the South after the Civil War.
April 18, 1775
"Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.." On this day in our history Paul Revere and William Dawes rode out of Boston at about 10 p.m. to warn patriots at Lexington and Concord of the approaching British.
April 18, 1942
On this day in our history, The first air raid on mainland Japan during World War II occurred as General James Doolittle led a squadron of B-25 bombers taking off from the carrier Hornet to bomb Tokyo and three other cities. Damage was minimal, but the raid boosted Allied morale following years of unchecked Japanese military advances.
April 19, 1775
At dawn in Massachusetts, about 70 armed militiamen stood face to face on Lexington Green with a British advance guard unit. An unordered 'shot heard around the world' began the American Revolution. A volley of British rifle fire was followed by a charge with bayonets leaving eight Americans dead and ten wounded. It was the final spark which lit the fire of the American revolution which would give birth to a new nation.
April 30, 1789
George Washington became the first U.S. President under the new United States Constitution which to this day is the backbone of our government system.