Today in Black History

Loretta Lynch

The United States Senate on April 23, 2015 confirmed Loretta Lynch – the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York as the first female African American United States Attorney General by a vote of 56 – 43 with 10 Republicans voting for her.

President Obama’s Weekly Address March 21, 2015 “It’s Time to Confirm Loretta Lynch“.

More Events On This Day

2007

Russian politician Boris Yeltsin—who became in 1991 the first popularly elected leader in his country's history and guided Russia through a stormy decade of political and economic retrenching until his resignation on the eve of 2000—died in Moscow.

Vario Press—Camera Press/Globe Photos

2005

The first video—which was of YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim's visit to the San Diego Zoo—was uploaded on the YouTube Web site; approximately one year later the site had some 100 million videos.

1998

James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr., died in prison in Nashville, Tennessee.

Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

1985

The Coca-Cola Company introduced New Coke, a reformulated soft drink meant to replace its flagship beverage; due to public outrage, however, the previous version of Coke was brought back as “Coca-Cola Classic” less than three months later.

AP/Shutterstock.com

1984

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret Heckler announced that researchers had found what was believed to be the virus that causes AIDS; the infectious agent was later named HIV.

C. Goldsmith/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

1976

The American band the Ramones, which was hugely influential in the rise of punk rock on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, released its eponymous debut album.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

1936

American singer-songwriter Roy Orbison, known for his soaring voice and for his carefully crafted ballads of loneliness and heartache, was born in Vernon, Texas.

1914

Wrigley Field (then known as Weeghman Park) hosted its first major-league baseball game; the stadium later became the home of the Chicago Cubs.

1906

Russian Tsar Nicholas II promulgated the Fundamental Laws, which marked the end of unlimited autocracy but fell short of the reforms promised in the October Manifesto.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

1858

German physicist Max Planck, who originated quantum theory, was born in Kiel.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

1791

James Buchanan, the 15th U.S. president, was born near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942 (object no. NPG.65.48)

1635

The Boston Grammar School (later the Boston Latin School), open to all boys regardless of social class, was founded as the first public school in what would become the United States; it set a precedent for tax-supported public education.

cliff1066™

1016

Upon the death of King Ethelred II of England, his son claimed the throne as Edmund II.