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First Climb on Mt. Everest
Many people had dreamed of climbing the 29,025-foot mountain Mount Everest but the completion of this dream only became true at 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953. After seven weeks of climbing New Zealander Edmund Hilary and Nepalese Tensing Norgay reached the top of Mount Everest. -
Four Minute Mile
The early 1950’s men and women dedicated the majority of their time to finishing the mile in less than four minutes. The world record for the mile run had been 4 minutes and 1.3 seconds since 1945 and the mystery of the four-minute mile surrounded many runners in the 1950’s. Runners from around the world wondered if it was possible to get under 4 minutes and some declared it physically impossible, Roger Bannister didn’t think so. Roger bannister discovered different forms of running and used tho -
Disneyland Opens
On July 17, 1955, Disenyland opened and thousands of people soon consumed its grounds. The first Disenyland to open was located Anaheim, California which cost seventeen million dollars to build and consumed one hundred and sixty acres. Disenyland Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland in 1955. -
Rosa Parks Bus Situation
On the evening of December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed in and did not get out of her bus seat to let a white passenger sit in her seat. After multiple requests to get out of her seat Rosa Parks continues to stay seated and rest her tired legs from a long day of hard work. Police officers arrested Rosa Parks due to her bus boycott due to the Alabama law requiring black individuals to give their seats up to the white individuals entering the bus. Rosa Parks started the bus -
Little Rock Nine
After the civil rights Movement, nine black students enrolled in a previous former white school beginning the integration of white students with black. This decision for integrated schools came after the Brown v.s. Board of Education of Topeka. On September 25, 1957 Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the “Little Rock Nine” into school for their first full day of classes. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a group of army soldiers invading Cuba to scare off the popularity against Fidel Castro. This invasion instead gave Castro a military victory creating the mentality that Cuba could resist America. This act was to demolish the communist nature of Fidel Castro who had taken over Fulencia Batista’s dictatorship to turn Cuba to communism. -
Washington March
The March on Washington in 1963 included a quarter of a million people, making it the largest demonstration of civil rights. The March of Washington became a political rally for jobs and freedom for African Americans still receiving racism and inequality throughout the country. -
Civil Rights Act
The 1960 Civil Rights Act introduced consequences against anyone who destroyed another individual attempt to register or attempt to vote. This act also created the Civil Rights Commission. Eisenhower passed this act to get more Black voters but the civil rights act only added an extra three percent of black voters. -
Riots in the Street: Detroit Riot
The Detroit Riot of 1967 began when police officers were called to execute a raid in a black neighborhood. The black neighborhood felt like the police were attacking them mentally and began to break into clothing stores and set them on fire. After five days of this riot, 43 people died, 1189 injured, and 7000 arrested. -
The First Man on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, man’s dream to walk on the moon became complete. Neil Armstrong bravely volunteered to be the first to accomplish this dream or fail trying. With the accomplishment of the United States landing on the moon, we topped Soviets attempt to get into space in the World’s space Race. -
Kent State Shooting
On May 4, 1970, students at Kent State College campus began to protest against the Vietnam War. The Ohio National Guardsman were brought to the Kent States College campus to maintain the protesting. For an unknown reason the National Guard fired upon a dispersing crowd of student protestors, this shooting killed four students and wounded none others. -
First Abortion Case in Supreme Court
Abortion became legal in 1973. The Supreme Court ruled that states could not have restrictive laws and legalized abortion with the court case Roe v.s. Wade. The Roe v.s. Wade ruling aloud women to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained doctors. This case made it possible for doctors to rule if it was necessary or life threatening to have the baby. If the doctor labeled the pregnant women’s condition as life, threatening then the pregnant woman could receive an abortion. -
Sears Tower Opens
In 1974, the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois became the tallest building in the world for twenty years. The Sears Tower reaches a total height 1,454 feet containing 110 stories. On July 16, 2009 the new owners of the Sears Tower changed the name to the Willis Tower. -
First Test Tube Baby: Louise Brown
On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown became the world’s first “test tube” baby born in Great Britian. Louise’s parents, Lesley and John Brown, could not conceive a child because Lesley had blocked Fallopian tubes. After going to multiple Doctors Lesley and john went to Dr. Patrick Steptoe who took one egg from Lesley and one sperm from John and fertilized the egg in a petri dish. Dr. Steptoe placed the fertilized egg into Lesley’s uterus and the 9-month process began. -
Jonestown Massacre
On November 18, 1978, Congressman Leo J. Ryan died while trying to board a plane at Port Kaituma. After that happened, people found out that 909 people died. Those people were part of “The People’s Temple” led by Reverend Jim Jones. These people were tricked into drinking cyanide mixed into Kool-Aid. At the very end of the massacre, Jones died by a shot in his head. -
Mt. Saint Helen Erupts
On May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens erupted in Washington. The eruption exploded 1,300 feet of the mountain’s summit and created a wasteland and crater. On March 20, a seismograph recorded a 4.2 magnitude earthquake that happened under Mount Saint Helens. More small quakes happened from March 25-27. A volcanologist recorded the eruption and there an aerial view also took place on May 18 when the volcano erupted. People say that this eruption caused the most destruction to the U.S. economy. -
E.T. is Released
Based off of Steven Spielberg’s own life, E.T. became the largest grossed movie ever in June of 1982. The movie seemed different from other movies since Spielberg had the movie filmed in a child’s point of view and had it filmed in chronological order. The result of the movie consisted of nominations for nine Academy Awards, winning of four Academy Awards, and grossing $11.9 million in just the first weekend. -
Sally Ride in Space
Born on May 26, 1951, Sally Ride graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Physics, a Bachelor of Arts in English, a Master in Science, and Doctorate in Physics. In 1978, Sally Ride became selected for an astronaut candidate by NASA. Sally Ride became a Mission Specialist on STS-7 on June 18, 1983. Sally Ride also wrote five science books. She also received many honors and awards and became inducted into Nation Women’s Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. -
Challenger Explosion
Intended for a testing vehicle, Challenger first started to receive testing on April 2, 1978 and became a spacecraft about five years later. On January 28, 1986, NASA launched Challenger for the last time. After 73 seconds after being launched, Challenger had a malfunction and pieces of the spacecraft fell from the sky to the Atlantic Ocean. Seven astronauts passed away after the malfunction and remains of them that were not identified were buried at Arlington Cemetery. -
Black Monday
Black Monday refers to the market crash that happened in October of 1987. Many different events that played off of each other caused the market crash. One event of this market crash consists of the supply of stock exceeding the demand for stock suddenly. Black Monday really showed everyone the power of the markets and what they do. It also showed chances for new technology that would help dim the panic in selling. -
Hubble Telescope Launch
First scheduled to launch in 1986, the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Dr. Edwin P. Hubble, launched on April 24, 1990. The delay of the Hubble’s launch took place because of the loss of the Challenger in that same year. The Hubble Space Telescope cost $1.5 billion to launch. The purpose of this telescope consists of orbiting Earth and taking pictures to send back to Earth. That first picture included Star Cluster NGC 3532. -
Rodney King Beating
On March 3, 1991, Rodney Glen King set out after being at his friend’s house where they drank and watched a basketball game. King drove recklessly after drinking and soon got pulled over. King got hit twice with a Taser and then got beat viciously by three of the police. That beating got caught on camera by George Holliday. King received a trial where he and the police received no charges. -
Waco Massacre
The Waco Massacre started with a religious cult led by Vernon Howell, aka David Koresh. This cult came from the Seventh Day Adventist Church. In February of 1993, banished cult members started to tell the public that Koresh physically abused children, possessed illegal weapons, and made meth. The ATF went to Koresh’s hideout on February 28, 1993 with their blood type written on their arms. After everything ended, 4 agents died, 16 got wounded, and 5 cult members died. -
Columbine Shooting
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School with rifles, pistols, and explosives. After this shooting, 15 students including Harris and Klebold died. In just 20 minutes, the two boys also wounded 21 students. Luckily, the two propane tank bombs did not go off in the cafeteria. As they would have resulted in more deaths. -
Y2K Scare
The date January 1, 2000 made everyone shutter in fear during 1999. Everyone feared that their computers wouldn’t recognize “00” as 2000. They instead thought that the computers would see the two “0”s as 1900. This scare led to 120 countries discussing the catastrophe on December 11, 1989. Every person tried to take precautions to find in the end that the computers would see “00” as 2000 and they had nothing to worry about. -
9/11
On September 11, 2001, nineteen al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. planes. These terrorists crashed two of these planes into the North and South Towers of the world Trade center also known as the twin towers. The third plane went into the Pentagon while the fourth plane the passengers bcame aware of the different path of the plane and was taken over by the passengers and crashed into an empty field in Western Pennsylvania. Three thousand people were killed on September 11, 2001. -
Jessica Lynch Captured
Jessica Lynch was captured in March 2003 by Iraqi forces. On March 23, 2003, Lynch rode in a supply convoy with her unit until they took a wrong turn and the Iraqi’s ambushed the supply convoy and killed eleven soldiers and capturing five soldiers including Lynch. Lynch and the other hostages received broken bones from the ambush and received medical attention from and Iraqi hospital which was later raided and Lynch was saved and immediately brought back to the United States. -
Coal Miners Trapped
On January 3, 2006, thirteen American coal miners were trapped 2 miles inside the Sago coal mine located in West Virginia. High levels of methane gas have been released into the mines atmosphere and the lives of the miners were in severe danger. Large drills drilled into the mine until the drills reached the area of the miners. When they reached the miners they pulled each one up in a tight tube for 2 miles in pure dark. All lives were saved luckily after surviving in a mine for a week. -
Virginia Tech Massacre
On Monday, April 16, 2007, 23 people passed away including the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho who took his own life. Witnesses said that Cho made some students line up against a wall where he shot them. Many people didn’t even know about the shootings taking place and went on with their lives in shock to hear gun shots around the campus. Other students escaped by jumping out of a window or crouching down. -
Minneapolis Bridge Collapes
On August 1, 2007, a bridge built in 1967 fell apart and crashed into the Mississippi River. The Minneapolis Bridge collapsing cost 13 people their lives and injured 145 other people. In 2006, the bridge got inspected and the inspectors said that the bridge should stay solid until 2020. That didn’t happen and in 2007, while cars lined up on the bridge, it collapsed.
