April 12 in History
What happened on April 12 in history?
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on april 12 in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened on april 12 in history.
?>1983
Harold Washington is elected the first black mayor of Chicago.
1966
Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American major league umpire.
1963
Police use dogs and cattle prods on peaceful civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama.
1961
Soviet Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin becomes first man to orbit the Earth.
1955
Dr. Jonas Salk’s discovery of a polio vaccine is announced.
1954
Bill Haley records “Rock Around the Clock.”
1945
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies at Warm Spring, Georgia. Harry S. Truman becomes president.
1944
The U.S. Twentieth Air Force is activated to begin the strategic bombing of Japan.
1927
The British Cabinet comes out in favor of voting rights for women.
1916
American cavalrymen and Mexican bandit troops clash at Parral, Mexico.
1911
Pierre Prier completes the first non-stop London-Paris flight in three hours and 56 minutes.
1877
The first catcher’s mask is used in a baseball game.
1864
Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow, in Tennessee.
1861
Fort Sumter is shelled by the Confederacy, starting America’s Civil War.
1811
The first colonists arrive at Cape Disappointment, Washington.
1782
The British navy wins its only naval engagement against the colonists in the American Revolution at the Battle of Saints, off Dominica.
1770
Parliament repeals the Townsend Acts.
1606
England adopts the Union Jack as its flag.
1204
The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople.