Historical Events on September 20

  • 1848: On this day, the American Association for the Advancement of Science is formed.
  • 1854: French and British forces defeat the Russians in Crimea during the Battle of Alma.
  • 1857: With the recapturing of Delhi by East India Company loyalists, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 comes to an end.
  • 1860: The Prince of Wales – who would later become King Edward VII – visited the U.S.
  • 1863: The Battle of Chickamauga ends. This battle fought in Northwestern Georgia is the only significant Confederate victory of the American Civil War’s Western Theater of Operation.
  • 1893: The 1st American made gas-power car is road tested by Charles Duryea and his brother.
  • 1941: Mobile Nazi killing squad Einsatzkommando 3 murdered over four hundred Jews in Nemencing, Latvia. Of that number, 176 were women and 99 were children.
  • 1942: The German SS murders over 3,000 Jews in Letychiv, Ukraine
  • 2007: Approximately 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana to support six African-American youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.
  • 2008: 54 people are killed and 266 people are wounded when a dump truck filled with explosives is detonated in front of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
  • 2011: The “Don’t ask; don’t tell” policy of the U.S military ended on this day. This allowed gay men and women to serve openly.

Famous Birthdays on September 20

  • American general John F. Reynolds is born in 1820.
  • American poet and educator Kate Harrington is born in 1831.
  • Italian soldier, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate Ernesto Teodoro Moneta is born in 1833.
  • American novelist Upton Beall Sinclair is born in 1878.
  • American editor Maxwell Perkins is born in 1884.
  • Japanese-American martial artist, actor and founder of the Gosoku-ryu style of karate Takayuki Kubota is born in 1934.
  • Italian actress Sophia Loren is born in 1934.
  • English author and illustrator Keith Roberts is born in 1935.