1996 Ebonics   The Oakland, California school board unanimously passes a resolution for the incorporating of Ebonics in the classroom.

1985 The Color Purple premiers.

1975 Amityville Horror George and Kathleen Lutz purchase their new home at their home at 112 Ocean Avenue.  The previous year, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo murdered his parents, two brothers, and two sisters in the house.  Their paranormal experiences in the house were the basis for The Amityville Horror.

1969 James Bond On Her Majesty's Secret Service premiers in the U.S., 6th in the James Bond series, it starred George Lazenby as 007.

1936 First giant panda in the U.S Su-Lin arrives in San Francisco from China. Source: Famous First Facts

1935 $100,000 Bill These gold certificates are first printed. They featured a portrait of Woodrow Wilson. They were never circulated but used internally by the Federal Reserve. Source: Famous First Facts

1917 Prohibition The 18th amendment prohibiting intoxicating liquors in the U.S. is sent to the states for ratification. It was in effect from 1920 to 1933.

1878 Incandescent Light Joseph Swan demonstrates his carbon filament electric light, almost a year before Edison.

1865 13th Amendment goes into effect abolishing slavery in the U.S.

1796 First Sunday newspaper The Monitor of Baltimore, Maryland is published.

1787 New Jersey becomes the 3rd state.

1980 Christina Aguilera American Grammy-winning singer.  TV: Mickey Mouse Club (1993-94).  Music: Reflection (1998)

1950 Leonard Maltin American film critic, historian. TV: Entertainment Tonight. At age 15, he founded Film Fan Monthly.

1947 Steven Spielberg American Oscar-winning director. Film: Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), and Schindler's List (1994, Oscar).

1943 Keith Richards British guitarist, with the Rolling Stones.

1927 Ramsey Clark American lawyer, U.S. Attorney General (1967-89).  In 2005, he joined the legal team defending Saddam Hussein.

1917 Ossie Davis d. 2005 (Raiford Chatman Davis), American actor, civil rights activist. TV: B.L. Stryker (Oz Jackson) and Evening Shade (Ponder Blue and narrator).

1916 Betty Grable d. 1973 (Elizabeth Ruth Grable), American actress, dancer, pin-up girl. Her legs were insured for $1,000,000 with Lloyds of London.

1890 Edwin Howard Armstong d. 1954 American electrical engineer, invented the superheterodyne receiver (1918) and FM radio (c1935).

1886 Ty Cobb d. 1961 (Tyrus Raymond Cobb), American baseball player, "The Georgia Peach." He was the first person elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (1936).

1882 Ralph De Palma d. 1956 Italian-born American Hall of Fame auto racer. With 2,557 wins out 2,889 races, he was the world's winningest race car driver.

1856 Joseph John Thomson d. 1940 English physicist. He discovered the electron (1897).

1779 Joseph Grimaldi d. 1837 English clown, the first to wear clown makeup and a clown suit. The term "Joey," which is synonymous with the word clown, is from a character he played.

1707 Charles Wesley d. 1788 English clergyman and hymnist. He helped his brother John establish Methodism and wrote over 6,500 hymns including Hark, the Harold Angels Sing. Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1997 Chris Farley b. 1964 American actor, comedian.  TV: Saturday Night Live. Film: Tommy Boy (1995),  Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), and Almost Heroes (1998).

1993 Sam Wanamaker b. 1919 American actor. Film: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and Private Benjamin (1980). He is best known for rebuilding London's famous Globe Theater.

1992 Mark Goodson b. 1915 American producer. TV: To Tell the Truth, What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, and Family Feud.

1977 Cyril Ritchard b. 1898 Australian actor. Stage: Peter Pan (1954, Captain Hook).

1892 Sir Richard Owen b. 1804 English biologist, paleontologist.  He coined the term Dinosaur (1842). He was strongly opposed to Darwinian evolution.

1869 Louis Moreau Gottschalk b. 1829 American pianist, composer, first internationally recognized U.S. pianist.

1829 Jean Baptiste Lamarck b. 1744 French naturalist. He was the first to distinguish vertebrates from invertebrates and was one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. He is best known for proposing that acquired traits are inheritable (Lamarckism), which was proved wrong, but initiated interest in the idea of evolution.

1737 Antonio Stradivari b. circa 1644 Italian violin maker, crafted the world's finest violins.

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