Today In History - August 1

1619 The first black Americans land at Jamestown, Virginia
1716 The first sculling race
1774 Priestly discovers oxygen
1785 Caroline Herschel becomes first woman discoverer of a comet
1789 US Customs begins enforcing the Tariff Act
1790 The first US census: population of 3,939,214
1794 The Whiskey Rebellion begins
1798 The Battle of the Nile
1831 London Bridge opens
1834 Slavery is abolished in the British Empire
1838 The Emancipation of British slaves on the Bahamas
1863 Cavalry action near Brandy Station: the end of the Gettysburg Campaign
1867 Blacks vote for first time in a state election in the south: Tennessee
1869 The first voyage down the mighty Colorado River
1873 San Francisco's first cable car begins service
1876 Colorado becomes the 38th state
1881 The US Quarantine Station is authorized for Angel Island
1901 Burial within the San Francisco City limits is prohibited
1903 The first coast-to-coast automobile trip (SF-New York) completed
1907 The Bank of Italy opens its first branch at 3433 Mission Street, San Francisco
1914 Germany declares war on Russia in WW I
1916 Hawaii National Park is established
1917 Frank Little, an IWW organizer, is lynched in Butte, MT
1933 The NRA (National Recovery Administration) established
1936 Adolph Hitler opens the Berlin Olympic Games
1936 Benjamin E. Mays is named president of Morehouse College
1943 Race riot in Harlem New York City
1944 Adam Clayton Powell is elected as the first black congressman from the East
1946 President Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
1950 King Leopold of Belgium abdicates and Baudouin becomes the king
1950 The Territory of Guam is created
1953 California introduces sales tax (to fund education)
1953 Northern Rhodesia becomes part of Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
1955 The first microgravity research begins
1957 The first commercial building is heated by the Sun: Albuquerque, NM
1957 Glen Gorbous throws a baseball a record 445' and 10"
1958 Cost of first class postage shot up to 4¢ - it had remained 3¢ for 26 years
1959 The New Continental baseball league is formed
1960 Chubby Checker releases "The Twist"
1963 The Beatles Book is sold out on its first day of sale
1966 Charles Whitman climbs a University of Texas tower and shoots and kills 12 people
1971 George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh takes place in New York City
1972 The first article exposing Wategate scandal (Bernstein-Woodward)
1975 Billy Martin replaces Bill Virdon as the manager of the New York Yankees
1975 The Helsinki Pact (guaranteeing boundaries and rights) is signed by 35 nations
1976 Liz Taylor's 6th divorce (she divorces Richard Burton - AGAIN)
1981 MTV premiers at 12:01 AM
1982 Greg Louganis of the US becomes first Olympic diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives
1987 Mike Tyson beats Tony Tucker to become the boxing champion
1990 Iraq leaves the peace talks with Kuwait
1991 Actress Hedy Lamarr, age 77, is arrested for shoplifting in Florida
1992 NBC's "Saturday Today" premieres

10BC Claudius, 4th Roman Emperor
126 Publius Helvius Pertinax, Roman Emperor
1744 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
1770 William Clark
1779 Francis Scott
1815 Richard Henry Dana
1818 Maria Mitchell
1819 Herman Melville
1889 Dr John F. Mahoney
1895 Benjamin E. Mays
1898 Morris Stoloff
1899 William Steinberg
1912 Henry Jones
1913 Jerome Moross
1920 Sammy Lee
1921 Jack Kramer
1922 Arthur Hill
1930 Geoffrey Holder
1933 Dom DeLuise
1936 Yves Saint-Laurent
1937 Alfonse D'Amato
1941 Ron Brown actor
1942 Giancarlo Giannini
1942 Jerry Garcia
1944 Yuri V. Romanenko
1946 Richard O. Covey
1952 Brian Patrick Clarke
1953 Robert Cray
1957 Glen Gorbous
1958 Taylor Negron
1959 Joe Elliot
1961 Bart Conner
1964 Nick Christian
1964 Rob Camilletti
1973 Tempestt Bledsoe
1978 Dhani Harrison