Today In History

In 1587: Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island, N.C.

In 1920: Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of all American women to vote.

In 1991: Soviet hard-liners launched a coup aimed at toppling President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. (Gorbachev was detained until the coup collapsed three days later.)