On this date in history:

In 1543, Mary Stuart is crowned Mary Queen of Scots at 9 months old.

In 1776, the second Continental Congress officially changed the new American nation's name from United Colonies to United States.

In 1850, California became the 31st state.

In 1893, first lady Frances Folsom Cleveland gives birth to a daughter in the White House. Esther Cleveland was the first child of a president to be born in the White House.

In 1908, Orville Wright completed the first hourlong airplane flight during a series of tests in Fort Myer, Va.

In 1919, Boston police went on strike, prompting riots. Law enforcement sought better wages and working conditions, and the strike highlighted the growing influence of trade unions in the United States.

In 1956, rock 'n' roll singer Elvis Presley appeared on national television for the first time -- on The Ed Sullivan Show.

In 1971, more than 1,000 convicts took over the state prison at Attica, N.Y., and held hostages. Four days later, 28 convicts and nine hostages were killed as state police reclaimed the prison. The overall death toll was later set at 43.

In 1976, Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong died at age 82.

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan denounced apartheid as systematic, institutionalized racial discrimination and imposed a series of economic sanctions against South Africa.

In 1990, Liberian President Samuel Doe was killed by rebels after visiting the headquarters of West African peacekeeping forces in Monrovia.

In 1993, in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist in peace and security. In turn, Rabin declared the PLO the representative of the Palestinian people.

In 1999, more than 100 people died in the bombing of a Moscow apartment building. The blast was blamed on militants from the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

In 2003, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million in lawsuits by more than 500 people who said they sexually abused by priests.

In 2010, a federal judge in California ruled that the don't ask, don't tell policy preventing homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. armed services was unconstitutional.

In 2015, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II became England's longest-serving monarch, surpassing the record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, more than a century earlier.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida, leaving millions in the state without power. The Category 5 storm was blamed for more than 130 deaths throughout the Caribbean and the United States.

In 2018, John Legend became the first Black man to earn EGOT status -- winning at the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys. He completed his EGOT with a win at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards as producer on NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. The show also earned Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice EGOTs.

In 2019, scientists announced the discovery of the earliest direct evidence of milk consumption in the 6,000-year-old teeth of British farmers.

In 2023, Coco Gauff rallied past Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus to win her first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open.

Copyright 2024 by United Press International