The World’s Oldest Teenager: On this day in history, 69 years ago, August 5, 1957, 27-year-old Dick Clark changed the name of his local Philadelphia television dance show “Bandstand” to “American Bandstand,” and it began running as a daily national afternoon show on the ABC Network. (1/5)

United States Revenue-Marine: On this day in history, 236 years ago, August 4, 1790, the United States Congress, following the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, established the U.S. Revenue-Marine as the first armed customs enforcement service. (1/4)

Olympic Hero: On this day in history, 90 years ago, August 3, 1936, Jessie Owens won the first of his four gold medals at the XI Olympiad in Berlin, Germany, shaming Hitler’s plan to showcase his Aryan athletes as a superior race. The U.S. won fourteen gold medals, compared to Germany’s five. (1/5)

Lester’s Legend: On this day in history, 71 years ago, August 2, 1955, Gibson Guitar President Ted McCarty received a patent for a “Stringed Musical Instrument of the Guitar Type and Combined Bridge and Tailpiece Therefor,” now known at the Gibson Les Paul solid-body electric guitar. (1/4)

Ten Hour House: On this day in history, 153 years ago, August 1, 1873, Dr. Benjamin Mishler—a manufacturer of patent medicines in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—made good on a wager he had made that he could build a two-story, brick house in less than 16 hours. (1/4)

“Hero of Two Worlds” On this day in history, 249 years ago, July 31, 1777, the 19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette—an officer in the French military since the age of 13—offered to serve without any pay as an officer in the Continental Army to further the cause of American independence. (1/5)

New Orleans Massacre: On this day in history, 160 years ago, July 30, 1866, hundreds of Black supporters of the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention gathered outside the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans and were attacked by the New Orleans police led by Mayor John Thompkins Monroe. (1/5)

Starting a War: On this day in history, 417 years ago, July 29, 1609, Quebec City founder Samuel de Champlain assisted the local Algonquin tribes in their battles against the Iroquois by venturing with them south of Lake Champlain, where he shot and killed three Iroquois chiefs. (1/4)

Birthright Citizenship: On this day in history, 160 years ago, July 28, 1866, Secretary of State William H. Seward certified the ratification of the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship to all persons born in the United States, with rights to voting, due process, and equal protection. (1/4)

Mettez Fin au Règne de la Terreur: On this day in history, 232 years ago, July 27, 1794, Maximilien Robespierre was arrested for the tens of thousands of deaths of political rivals during his leadership in the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. (1/4)

Potsdam: On this day in history, 81 years ago, July 26, 1945, leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and China issued the Potsdam Declaration, calling for the unconditional surrender of Japan. The Soviets did not endorse the document because they were not yet at war with Japan. (1/4)

Full Participation Olympics: On this day in history, 34 years ago, July 25, 1992, the XXV Olympiad opened in Barcelona, Spain, with full participation: the first time in 32 years without any banned countries and 20 years without any countries boycotting the games. (1/5)

Peacetime Draft: On this day in history, 78 years ago, July 24, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Selective Service Act of 1948, passed by Congress on July 19 in response to the cold war with the U.S.S.R. (1/4)

Burt’s Typographer: On this day in history, 197 years ago, July 23, 1829, William Austin Burt received U.S. patent number 5581X for a machine he called the “Typographer,” the first patent issued for a typewriting machine. (1/4)

Preparedness Day Bombing: On this day in history, 110 years ago, July 22, 1916, the biggest terrorist attack in the history of San Francisco occurred when a suitcase bomb exploded thirty minutes into the Preparedness Day Parade, killing ten people and injuring forty more. (1/4)

The Monkey Trial: On this day in history, 101 years ago, July 21, 1925, John Thomas Scopes was convicted and fined $100 under the Butler Act, which had passed on March 13 and forbade teaching the origin of humankind in Tennessee using any source other than the Book of Genesis in the Bible. (1/6)

Deadly Theater: On this day in history, 14 years ago, July 20, 2012, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes smuggled multiple legally purchased firearms into an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater and opened fire, killing twelve people and injuring seventy more. (1/5)

Declaration of Sentiments: On this day in history, 178 years ago, July 19, 1848, nearly two hundred women met in the Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls, New York, for a “convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women.” (1/5)

The Original Patriotic Song: On this day in history, 258 years ago, July 18, 1768, “The Liberty Song” (lyrics written by John Dickinson to the tune of “Heart of Oak” in response to the Townsend Act of 1767) was published in the “Boston Gazette.” (1/4)

The Right to Vote! On this day in history, 80 years ago, July 17, 1946, 37-year-old sharecropper and World War II veteran Maceo Snipes voted in the gubernatorial primary election in Taylor Co., Georgia, despite signs stating, “the first negro that votes, that’ll be the last thing he does.” (1/6)

“I Am Not a Crook!” On this day in history, 53 years ago, July 16, 1973, Deputy Assistant to the President Alexander Butterfield testified before the Senate Watergate Committee, revealing a taping system in the Oval Office that recorded all President Nixon’s office and phone conversations. (1/4)

On this day in history, 123 years ago, July 15, 1903, the Ford Motor Company received its very first order, selling a Model A with a tonneau body, powered by an 8-hp, 100 ci, 2-cylinder engine with a 2-speed transmission, to Chicago dentist Ernst Pfenning for $850. (1/4)

George Washington Carver: On this day in history, 83 years ago, July 14, 1943, a bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt establishing the George Washington Carver National Monument and dedicating $30,000 to its development. (1/5)

Black Lives Matter: On this day in history, 13 years ago, July 13, 2013, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was initiated from a Facebook post by civil rights activist Alicia Garza expressing her grief over the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin. (1/5)

“A Woman’s Place Is in the White House!” On this day in history, 42 years ago, July 12, 1984, Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, making her the first woman to appear on the top ticket for a major political party in a Presidential election. (1/5)

Niagara Movement: On this day in history, 121 years ago, July 11, 1905, the Niagara Movement, led by W.E.B. DuBois, William Monroe Trotter, and Mary Burnett Talbert, opened their first meeting with twenty-nine founding members. (1/5)

Three-Point Safety: On this day in history, 64 years ago, July 10, 1962, Swedish mechanical engineer Nils Ivar Bohlin, who was working as a safety engineer for Volvo, received U.S. Patent No. 3,043,625 for the three-point automobile safety belt. (1/4)

“The Answer, My Friend” On this day in history, 64 years ago, July 9, 1962, Bob Dylan recorded “Blowin’ in the Wind” to be included on the album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” although bootleg recordings from live performances were already popular among his burgeoning fans. (1/4)

An Independent Vermont: On this day in history, 249 years ago, July 8, 1777, Vermont declared itself to be an independent republic and introduced its first state constitution. (1/4)

Assassin’s Punishment: On this day in history, 161 years ago, July 7, 1865, Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt became the first woman executed by the U.S. Federal Government for her part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. (1/5)