The Rock Goes Quiet: Alcatraz Closes Its Cell Doors
On March 21, 1963, the last inmates left Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, ending 29 years as America's most infamous prison.
Tagged: us history
A Dream on the National Mall
On August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million people filled Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech.
Crazy Drake's Gamble: The Well That Started the Oil Age
On August 27, 1859, Edwin Drake's drill struck oil at 69.5 feet near Titusville, Pennsylvania — the first well deliberately drilled for petroleum, and the spark of the modern oil industry.
The Day American Women Won the Vote
On August 26, 1920, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the 19th Amendment, making women's suffrage the law of the land after a 72-year struggle.