Medgar Evers was an American civil rights leader who achieved national prominence for his efforts in fighting racial oppression in Mississippi, work for which he was assassinated by white supremacists on this day in 1963.

On this day in 1982, hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators held a huge rally and parade in Central Park and midtown Manhattan to oppose nuclear armament, one of the largest political demonstrations in U.S. history.

On this day in 1901, under duress of occupation by the United States military, the newly independent Cuban government ratified the Platt Amendment, giving the U.S. legal control over the Cuban state and economy.