12 History Lessons + 7 Births & 7 Deaths for October 11, 2026
Today’s History:
- 1776 – British forces defeated Benedict Arnold’s American fleet at the Battle of Valcour Island, but the resistance delayed Britain’s planned advance from Canada.
- 1890 – The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, D.C.
- 1906 – San Francisco’s school board ordered students of Japanese, Chinese and Korean ancestry to attend a segregated school, provoking a diplomatic dispute with Japan.
- 1958 – NASA launched Pioneer 1, the newly established agency’s first spacecraft, on an attempted mission to the moon.
- 1968 – Apollo 7 lifted off with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham on the first crewed mission of the Apollo program.
- 1984 – Space-shuttle astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first American woman to perform a spacewalk.
- 1986 – President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began nuclear-arms negotiations in Reykjavík, Iceland.
- 1987 – The AIDS Memorial Quilt was displayed publicly for the first time on the National Mall during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
- 1991 – Law professor Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her; Thomas denied the allegations.
- 2002 – Former President Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of work promoting diplomacy, democracy and human rights.
- 2017 – The Boy Scouts of America announced that girls would be admitted to Cub Scout programs and offered a path toward earning the rank of Eagle Scout.
- 2022 – NASA announced that its DART spacecraft had successfully altered the orbit of the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, demonstrating a possible method of planetary defense.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1946 – Daryl Hall, singer-songwriter and co-founder of the pop-rock duo Hall & Oates (80)
- 1961 – Steve Young, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and Super Bowl XXIX Most Valuable Player (65)
- 1962 – Joan Cusack, Academy Award-nominated actress known for Working Girl, In & Out and the Toy Story films (64)
- 1976 – Emily Deschanel, TV actress (50)
- 1977 – Matt Bomer, TV actor (49)
- 1992 – Cardi B, Grammy-winning rapper known for “Bodak Yellow” and “I Like It” (34) SooLeader
- 1998 – Rhea Ripley, wrestler (30)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1779 – Casimir Pulaski, Polish-born Revolutionary War officer remembered as the “Father of the American Cavalry” (34)
- 1809 – Meriwether Lewis, explorer who co-led the Lewis and Clark Expedition across the American West (35)
- 1889 – James Prescott Joule, English physicist whose work on energy gave the scientific unit known as the joule its name (70)
- 1971 – Chesty Puller, highly decorated United States Marine Corps lieutenant general (73)
- 1991 – Redd Foxx, comedian and actor best known for portraying Fred Sanford on Sanford and Son (68)
- 2019 – Alexei Leonov, Soviet cosmonaut who became the first person to walk in space (85)
- 2022 – Angela Lansbury, acclaimed stage and screen actress best known for Murder, She Wrote (96)
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