(1865) Last slaves in America are declared free
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General Gordon Granger arrives on Galveston Island, Texas, with official news for the state’s slaves: More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been implemented, America’s remaining slaves are freed. The day will be celebrated in Texas, and later in other states, as ‘Juneteenth.’. |
(1867) Austrian-born Emperor of Mexico faces firing squad
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Born in Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace as a descendant of the House of Habsburg, brother to Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I, and installed as the ruler of Mexico by France’s Napoleon III, Maximilian I ends his 3-year reign as Mexico’s emperor in front of Benito Juarez’s firing squad. . |
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(1910) Daughter of Civil War vet inaugurates Father’s Day
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After hearing a Mother’s Day sermon, Sonora Dodd inaugurates a Father’s Day celebration to honor her father, a Civil War vet and single dad of six children. Dodd’s campaigning will take decades, but the third Sunday in June will catch on throughout the US as a day to honor dads.. |
(1975) Missing member of the House of Lords found guilty of murder
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For the first time in more than two centuries, a member of Britain’s House of Lords is found guilty of murder. But Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, is not present to receive sentencing for the bludgeoning death of his children’s nanny, having disappeared months previously. . |
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