PHOTO CREDITS- WIKIPEDIA/INTERNET ARCHIVE

2002 A China Airlines jumbo jet breaks apart in mid-air

1979  American Airlines flight 191 crashes shortly after takeoff

1979  Etan Patz disappear

1977  The first Star Wars film is released

1963  32 African countries form a coalition against white rule

1953 The first atomic cannon is fired in Nevada.

1949 Jamaica Kincaid, author (Annie John, Lucy).

1946 Jordan gains independence from Britain.

1938 Raymond Carver, American writer.

1935 Jesse Owens sets six world records in less than an hour in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1932 John Gregory Dunne, novelist and journalist.

1929 Beverly Sills, opera singer.

1926 Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter.

1925 John Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwinian theory in school.

1914 The British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule.

1911 Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico, resigns his office.

1908 Theodore Roethke, poet.