Events for July 4
1946 – The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland.
1913 – President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.
1903 – The Philippine–American War is officially concluded.
993 – Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: U.S. forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
1774 – Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts.
1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
1941 – World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement.
1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.
1253 – Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.
1982 – Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown.
1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.
1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized.
1584 – Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe arrive at Roanoke Island
1634 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (now Quebec, Canada).
2009 – The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.
1943 – World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives.
1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years.
1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to U.S. forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege.
836 – Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed.
1994 – Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city.
1359 – Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
Notable Births & Deaths for July 4
1990 – Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer
2012 – Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (b. 1932)
2013 – James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (b. 1940)
2017 – John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (b. 1973)
1986 – Terrance Knighton, American football player
2014 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (b. 1932)
1995 – Post Malone, American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer
1992 – Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer
1986 – Marte Elden, Norwegian skier
1984 – Miguel Santos Soares, Timorese footballer
2015 – Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (b. 1928)
1999 – Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician
1986 – Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player
2009 – Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese poet and politician (b. 1938)
2010 – Robert Neil Butler, American physician and author (b. 1927)
2016 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (b. 1940)
2018 – Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (b. 1940)
2014 – Earl Robinson, American baseball player (b. 1936)
1989 – Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer
2013 – Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (b. 1960)
2017 – Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (b. 1919)
2014 – Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1950)
2013 – Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1932)
1988 – Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress
2014 – C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (b. 1951)
2015 – William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1926)
1985 – Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player
1990 – Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer
1987 – Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer
2018 – Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (b. 1927)
1990 – Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player
2012 – Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (b. 1919)
1990 – Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer
2013 – Charles A. Hines, American general (b. 1935)
1992 – Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer
1993 – Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer
1986 – Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer
1987 – Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner
1985 – Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer
2012 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (b. 1987)
1986 – Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer
1985 – Kane Tenace, Australian footballer
2013 – Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
2003 – Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer
2017 – Gene Conley, American MLB player and NBA player (b. 1930)
2012 – Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
Quick Start
Our API is incredibly easy to use, check out the code samples below to get started:
Fetch Historical Events
All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.
*[key] not required but recommended.
Sample Requests
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.
Response
The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.
{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
"Events":[ { "text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> – The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>." },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
"Births":[ { "text":"1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)[8]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
"Deaths":[ { "text":"689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)[21]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
} }Usage Limits and Attribution
Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.
Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>