Today in history: Aug. 28
More than 200,000 people listened as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and more events that happened on this day in history.
Video
1917: Suffragists
In 1917, ten suffragists demanding that President Woodrow Wilson support a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote were arrested as they picketed outside the White House.
1955: Emmett Till
In 1955, Emmett Till, a Black teen from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in Money, Mississippi, by two white men after he had supposedly whistled at a white woman; he was found brutally slain three days later.
1963: "I Have a Dream"
In 1963, more than 200,000 people listened as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
1964: Philadelphia
In 1964, two days of race-related rioting erupted in North Philadelphia over a false rumor that white police officers had beaten to death a pregnant Black woman.
1968: Chicago
In 1968, police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.
1996: Bill Clinton
In 1996, Democrats nominated President Bill Clinton for a second term at their national convention in Chicago.
2005: Ray Nagin
In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (NAY’-gin) ordered everyone in the city to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina grew to a monster storm.
2009: Michael Jackson
In 2009, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office announced that Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide caused primarily by the powerful anesthetic propofol (PROH’-puh-fahl) and another sedative, lorazepam (lor-AZ’-uh-pam).
2013: Barack Obama
In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, President Barack Obama stood on the same steps as he challenged new generations to seize the cause of racial equality.
2014: Joan Rivers
In 2014, comedian Joan Rivers was rushed to New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital after she suffered cardiac arrest at a doctor’s office where she’d gone for a routine outpatient procedure (Rivers died a week later at age 81).
2015: Owen Labrie
Five years ago: A jury in Concord, New Hampshire, acquitted Owen Labrie, a prep school graduate, of rape but convicted him of committing lesser sex offenses against a 15-year-old freshman girl in a case that exposed a tradition in which seniors competed to see how many younger students they could have sex with.
2017: Hurricane Harvey
In 2017, floodwaters reached the rooflines of single-story homes as Hurricane Harvey poured rain on the Houston area for a fourth consecutive day; thousands of people had been rescued from the flooding.
2018: Roy Oliver
In 2018, a white former police officer, Roy Oliver, center, was convicted of murder for fatally shooting an unarmed Black 15-year-old boy, Jordan Edwards, while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas; Oliver was sentenced the following day to 15 years in prison.
2019: Boris Johnson
One year ago: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson maneuvered to give his political opponents less time to block a chaotic no-deal Brexit, winning Queen Elizabeth’s approval to suspend Parliament. (Britain’s highest court later ruled that Johnson broke the law by suspending Parliament.)
2019: Hurricane Dorian
One year ago: Hurricane Dorian strengthened as it moved toward the U.S. Southeast coast; the storm left little damage in its wake in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.