Eva King (born 1889)

In 1889, in the year that Eva King was born, on April 22nd, at "high noon," about 50,000 people took off to claim open lands in the Land Rush of 1889. Called the "Unassigned Lands," part or all of 6 counties in Oklahoma were up for grabs. By the end of the day, Oklahoma City and Guthrie were created - each with about 10,000 inhabitants.

In 1911, the first Indianapolis 500 was run in May. Ray Harroun was the winner - he was an engineer and had retired from racing but he came back for this race. After the race, he retired for good. The purse was $27,550 - the largest offered up to that time - and Harroun received $10,000 for first place. His average time was 74.602 mph.

In 1939, on the 1st of September, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. On September 17th, the Soviet Union invaded Poland as well. Poland expected help from France and the United Kingdom, since they had a pact with both. But no help came. By October 6th, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany held full control of the previously Polish lands. Eventually, the invasion of Poland lead to World War II.

In 1944, on December 16th, The Battle of the Bulge began in the Ardennes forest on the Western Front. Lasting for a little over a month, the battle began with a surprise attack by Germany on the Allied forces The U.S. suffered their highest casualties of any operation in World War II - 89,000 were casualties, around 8,600 killed - but Germany also severely depleted their resources and they couldn't be replaced.

In 1962, on October 1st, African-American James H. Meredith, escorted by federal marshals, registered at the University of Mississippi - becoming the first African-American student admitted to the segregated college. He had been inspired by President Kennedy's inaugural address to apply for admission.