This day in history

In Northern Ireland, the British army shoot dead Eamon McDevitt, an unarmed, disabled man during a civil rights march. The army claimed that McDevitt was armed.  

South Africa is banned from participating in the Olympic Games because of its racial policies.

In America, James Meredith, the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, graduates with a degree in political science.

His enrolment in the university had originally been met with deadly riots and he subsequently attended class under heavily armed guard.

Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita is published in the U.S.

The Yangtze River in China overflows during a horrible flood that kills 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months.

The 19th Amendment to the American Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, becomes law.

President George Washington signs the Jay Treaty with Great Britain.

Virginia Dare becomes the first child born of English parents in the New World, seven days after the arrival of Sir Walter Raleigh's second expedition in North Carolina.