20 January 1981
On this date in 1981…
Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, just minutes after the U.S. presidency passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
Other Years:
- 1801 – John Marshall of Virginia was appointed chief justice of the United States.
- 1861 – Mississippi state troops seized federal installations at Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico.
- 1868 – Florida’s reconstruction constitutional convention met in Tallahassee.
- 1870 – The Mississippi reconstruction legislature elected AME minister Hiram R. Revels to finish the term of Jefferson Davis as U.S. Senator for Mississippi.
- 1891 – James Hogg took office as the first native-born governor of Texas.
- 1952 – In Juarez, Mexico, Patricia McCormick of Texas debuted as the first professional woman bullfighter from the United States.
- 1988 – An Arizona committee opened a hearing on the impeachment of Governor Evan Mecham.
- 1994 – Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to attend classes at The Citadel in South Carolina under court order but soon dropped out.
Read: Why Know Southern History?
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