Today in History, July 2, 1964: Civil Rights Bill signed into law

Today is July 2. On this date in:

1776

The Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

1881

President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September.

1917

Rioting erupted in East St. Louis, Illinois, as white mobs attacked Black residents; nearly 50 people, mostly Black people, are believed to have died in the violence.

1926

The Army Air Corps was created.

1937

Aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight along the equator.

1955

“The Lawrence Welk Show” premiered on ABC-TV under its original title, “The Dodge Dancing Party.”

1961

Author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.

1962

Sam Walton opened his first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas.

1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress.

1976

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Gregg v. Georgia, ruled 7-2 the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

1982

Larry Walters of San Pedro, California, used a lawn chair equipped with 45 helium-filled weather balloons to rise to an altitude of 16,000 feet; he landed eight miles away in Long Beach.

1996

Seven years after they shotgunned their parents to death in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion, Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

1997

Academy Award-winning actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 89.

2013

Homer Bailey threw his second no-hitter in 10 months, pitching the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.