Thursday, August 19, 2010

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUGUST 19
1909:Driving at an average speed of 57.4 miles per hour, Stoddard-Dayton chief engineer Louis Schwitzer wins the five-mile inaugural race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, now home to the Indianapolis 500.

1958: History teacher Clara Luper and 13 members of the NAACP Youth Council begin a sit-in at the lunch counter of Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City, inspiring sit-ins across the nation that demand the desegregation of public establishments.

1960: A Moscow tribunal convicts American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage, more than three months after his plane was shot down near Sverdlosk. Although he is sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers will be released on Feb. 10, 1962, in exchange for U.S.-held KGB spy Rudolf Abel.

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