Harriet Tubman

Today in History

• The US Constitution is signed in Philadelphia (1787)
• Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery (1849)
• San Francisco resident Joshua Norton declares himself to be “Norton I, Emperor of the United States” (1859)
• American Civil War: The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history, takes place (1862)
• Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, a passenger on a Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, becomes the first aviation fatality when the plane crashes (1908)
• World War I: “Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen wins his first aerial combat (1916)
• World War II:  Allied airborne troops parachute into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden (1944)
• The first retractable roof stadium opens in Pittsburgh (19161)
• The Camp Davis Accords are signed (1978)
• The Polish independent trade union Solidarity is founded (1980)
• Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America (1983)

Birthdays

• Hans Herr, first Mennonite bishop in the New World (1639*)
• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, rocket scientist (1857)
• Billy the Kid, gun fighter (1859)
• William Carlos Williams, poet (1883)
• J. Willard Marriott, hotelier (1900)
• Frank O’Connor, author (1903)
• Warren E. Burger, US Supreme Court Chief Justice (1907)
• John Creasey, author (1908)
• Mary Stewart, author (1916)
• Hank Williams, country musician (1923)
• Dorothy Loudon, actress and singer (1925)
• George Blanda, football player (1927)
• Stirling Moss, race car driver (1929)
• Anne Bancroft, actress (1931)
• Robert B. Parker, author (1932)
• Ken Kesey, author (1935)
• Phil Jackson, basketball coach (1945)
• Jeff MacNelly, cartoonist (1947)
• Rita Rudner, comedian (1953)
• Baz Luhrmann, filmmaker (1962)
• Bryan Singer, filmmaker (1965)
• Flo Rida, rapper (1979)

* Hans Herr is my many times removed great-grandfather. His house, the oldest in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is a museum site.

Deaths

• Hildegard of Bingen, saint (1179)
• Tobias Smollett, author (1771)
• Dred Scott, slave (1858)
• Charles Pillsbury, flour industrialist (1899)
• Folke Bernadotte, count (1948)
• Akim Tamiroff, actor (1972)
• Richard Basehart, actor (1984)
• Laura Ashley, fashion designer (1985)
• Willie Mosconi, pool player (1993)
• Spiro Agnew, 39th US vice president (1996)
• Red Skelton, comedian (1997)
• George Hamilton IV, country musician (2014)

Holidays and Observances

• Citizenship Day (Australia)
• Batman Day (DC Comics)
• Heroes’ Day (Angola)
• Marathwada Liberation Day (Maharashtra)
• Operation Market Garden Anniversary (the Netherlands)
• Sybirak’s Day (Poland)
• Teacher’s Day (Honduras)

September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). There are 105 days remaining until the end of the year.