Today in History: June 11, University of Alabama desegregated
In 1775, 250 years ago, rebel leaders in Massachusetts approved a letter to the Second Continental Congress seeking aid and guidance. The letter reported that General Thomas Gage, holed up in Boston, had at least 5,000 British regular soldiers. 'We have great reason to apprehend, that a reenforcement of at least eight regiments of foot and one of horse may be hourly ex-pected.'
In 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five (composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman) to draft a declaration of independence from Great Britain, to be completed in the subsequent 17 days.
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1955, in motor racing's worst disaster, more than 80 people were killed during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France when two cars collided and crashed into spectators.
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In 1962, Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin, and John Anglin, prisoners at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, staged an escape, leaving the island on a makeshift raft. They were never found or heard from again.
In 1963, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức lit himself on fire on a Saigon street as a protest against the Vietnamese government's persecution of Buddhists.
In 1963, the University of Alabama was desegregated as Vivian Malone and James Hood became the first two Black students allowed to enroll in classes; Alabama segregationist and Governor George Wallace initially blocked the doorway to the auditorium where course registration was taking place, delivering a speech before deferring to National Guard orders to move.
In 1987, Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in over 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office as her Conservative Party held onto a reduced majority in Parliament.
In 2001, Timothy McVeigh, 33, was executed by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
In 2009, with swine flu reported in more than 70 nations, the World Health Organization declared the first global flu pandemic in 41 years.
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