archives-informed

In 1987, nations meeting in Montreal adopted the Montreal Protocol, an agreement to protect the ozone layer by phasing out chemicals that deplete it.

In 1897, sheriff’s deputies fired on striking coal miners near Lattimer, Pa., killing more than a dozen workers in a major labor-rights confrontation.

In 1857, the S.S. Central America, later known as the “Ship of Gold,” sank in a hurricane while carrying passengers and California gold, killing hundreds and helping intensify the Panic of 1857.

In 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and P.L.O. chairman Yasir Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.

In 1862, Union forces stopped a Confederate invasion of Maryland at the Battle of Antietam. About 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing, making it the bloodiest single day in American military history.

In 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first human-made object to reach the moon when it crashed onto the lunar surface.

In 2001, Al Qaeda hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, causing the twin towers to collapse. A third plane struck the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed near Shanksville, Pa., after passengers and crew members resisted the hijackers. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

In 1963, four Black girls were killed when a bomb exploded during Sunday school at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit, kicking off the space race during the Cold War.

In 2017, The New York Times published its investigation into decades of sexual harassment accusations involving Harvey Weinstein, helping to ignite the #MeToo movement.