This Week In American History

Easter, also called Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred...

April 9 1865 In Appomattox Court House, Virginia, Robert E. Lee surrendered his 28,000 Confederate troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond,...

April 2   1917 Jeannette Pickering Rankin, the first woman ever elected to Congress, took her seat in the U.S. Capitol as a representative from Montana. She successfully ran for...

March 26   1951 President Harry S. Truman officially adopted the United States Air Force flag. Unchanged since 1951, the flag consists of the coat of arms, 13 white stars...

March 19   1931 In an attempt to lift the state out of the hard times of the Great Depression, the Nevada state legislature voted to legalize gambling. At the...

March 12   1894 Coca-Cola was sold in glass bottles for the first time by Joseph A. Biedenharn, owner of a candy store in Vicksburg, Mississippi. While only a fountain...

March 5 1770 A mob of American colonists gathered at the Customs House in Boston and began taunting the British soldiers guarding the building. The protesters, who called themselves Patriots,...

February 26  1929 In a controversial move that inspired charges of eastern domination of the West, Congress established Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Today, Grand Teton National Park encompasses...

The story of Presidents' Day date begins in 1800. Following the death of George Washington in 1799, his February 22 birthday became a perennial day of remembrance. At the time,...

Valentine's Day was named after its patron saint, St. Valentine, but there's actually at least two men named Valentine that could've inspired the holiday, including one Valentine who was a...

February 19   1807 Aaron Burr, a former U.S. vice president, was arrested in Alabama on charges of plotting to annex Spanish territory in Louisiana and Mexico to be used...

February 12 1909 A group that included African American leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett announced the formation of a new organization. Called the National Association...