1994 Nelson Mandela sworn in as the first black president of South Africa

1940 Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister, replacing Neville Chamberlain

1964 United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law

1835 The Treaty of New Echota was signed between the United States Government and representatives of a minority Cherokee Political Faction

1895 German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-Rays

1945 International Monetary Fund was formally established by 29 member countries

1808 The slave trade became illegal when the United States enacted a law banning the importation of slaves

1964 Kenya became a republic

1767 King Taksin was crowned King of Thailand (Siam)

1804 Haiti declared its independence from France

1814 Innovation of the steam locomotive (engine)

1926 John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of a live television system

1901 Guglielmo Marconi sent and received the first wireless message across the Atlantic Ocean

1963 President John F. Kennedy signed the United States Equal Pay Act into law

1949 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed the papers to grant independence to Indonesia

1836 Spain recognized the independence of Mexico by signing the Santa María–Calatrava Treaty