Today in History: August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers “I Have a Dream” speech

Today in History

Today is Monday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2023. There are 125 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 28, 1955, Emmett Till, a Black teenager from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in Money, Mississippi, by two white men after he had supposedly whistled at a white woman; he was found brutally slain three days later.

On this date:

In 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run began in Prince William County, Virginia, during the Civil War; the result was a Confederate victory.

In 1922, the first radio commercial aired on station WEAF in New York City. The 10-minute advertisement was for the Queensboro Realty Co., which had paid a fee of $100.

In 1941, Japan’s ambassador to the U.S., Kichisaburo Nomura, presented a note to President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Japan’s prime minister, Prince Fumimaro Konoye, expressing a desire for improved relations.

In 1963, more than 200,000 people listened as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In 1968, police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.

In 1988, 70 people were killed when three Italian stunt planes collided during an air show at the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein (RAHM’-shtyn), West Germany.

In 1996, the troubled 15-year marriage of Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially ended with the issuing of a divorce decree.

In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered everyone in the city to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina grew to a monster storm.

In 2016, six scientists completed a yearlong Mars simulation in Hawaii, where they emerged after living in a dome in near isolation on a Mauna Loa mountain.

In 2020, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he was stepping down because a chronic illness had resurfaced. (Abe was assassinated in July 2022.)

Ten years ago: A military jury sentenced Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that claimed 13 lives and left 30 people injured. Hasan had been convicted five days earlier, and did not present a case during his trial’s penalty phase. On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, President Barack Obama stood on the same steps as he challenged new generations to seize the cause of racial equality.

Five years ago: A white former police officer, Roy Oliver, was convicted of murder for fatally shooting an unarmed black 15-year-old boy, Jordan Edwards, while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas; Oliver was sentenced the following day to 15 years in prison. Puerto Rico’s governor raised the official death toll from Hurricane Maria in the U.S. territory from 64 to 2,975, after an independent study found that the number of people who died in the aftermath of the 2017 storm had been severely undercounted. Mourners filed into an African American history museum in Detroit for a public viewing for the late Aretha Franklin, part of a week of commemorations for the soul legend.

One year ago: Claims intensified between Russia and Ukraine of attacks at or near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest. The reports brought fears that the fighting could damage the plant, which Russia seized soon after the war between the two nations began. Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes had hit areas across the Dnieper River from the plant. A mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million, a record for a piece of sports memorabilia. Taylor Swift won video of the year and Billie Eilish won song of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Sonny Shroyer is 88. Actor Marla Adams is 85. Actor Ken Jenkins is 83. Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen is 83. Actor David Soul is 80. Former MLB manager and player Lou Piniella (pihn-EHL’-uh) is 80. Actor Barbara Bach is 77. Actor Debra Mooney is 76. Singer Wayne Osmond (The Osmonds) is 72. Actor Daniel Stern is 66. Olympic gold medal figure skater Scott Hamilton is 65. Actor John Allen Nelson is 64. Actor Emma Samms is 63. Actor Jennifer Coolidge is 62. Movie director David Fincher is 61. Actor Amanda Tapping is 58. Country singer Shania (shah-NY’-uh) Twain is 58. Actor Billy Boyd is 55. Actor Jack Black is 54. Actor Jason Priestley is 54. Actor Daniel Goddard (TV: “The Young and the Restless”) is 52. Olympic gold medal swimmer Janet Evans is 52. Actor J. August Richards is 50. Rock singer-musician Max Collins (Eve 6) is 45. Actor Carly Pope is 43. Country singer Jake Owen is 42. Country singer LeAnn Rimes is 41. Actor Kelly Thiebaud is 41. Actor Alfonso Herrera is 40. Actor Sarah Roemer is 39. Actor Armie Hammer is 37. Rock singer Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) is 37. Actor Shalita Grant is 35. Country-pop singer Cassadee Pope (TV: “The Voice”) is 34. Actor Katie Findlay is 33. Actor/singer Samuel Larsen is 32. Actor Kyle Massey is 32. Actor Quvenzhane (kwuh-VEHN’-zhah-nay) Wallis is 20. Reality TV star Alana Thompson, AKA “Honey Boo Boo,” is 18.