25 YEARS AGO

June 7, 1977 An ordinance in Dade County, Florida, that prohibits discrimination in housing against homosexuals is repealed, largely through the efforts of the singer and orange juice spokesperson Anita Bryant.

June 11, 1977 Seattle Slew wins the Belmont Stakes, thereby capturing Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown.

June 19, 1977 The Roman Catholic Church canonizes Bishop John Neumann, making him the first American male saint.

June 27, 1977 The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down laws that prohibit lawyers from advertising their services.

50 YEARS AGO

June 2, 1952 The U.S. Supreme Court declares President Harry S. Truman’s seizure of the nation’s steel mills, which was meant to settle an industrywide strike, to be unconstitutional. On July 24 labor and management agree to a settlement.

125 YEARS AGO

June 15, 1877 The U.S. Military Academy graduates its first black cadet, Henry O. Flipper, who has endured four years of ostracism and torment.

July 14, 1877 Workers on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad walk out, igniting a wave of sympathy strikes that will spread across the country and lead to violent clashes between strikers and law-enforcement personnel.

200 YEARS AGO

July 4, 1802 The U.S. Military Academy opens at West Point, New York.

225 YEARS AGO

June 14, 1777 The Continental Congress resolves “that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

July 6, 1777 British troops led by Gen. John Burgoyne recapture Fort Ticonderoga, on the Hudson River, from the American rebels. On July 29 the rebels will abandon nearby Fort Edward as well.

July 12, 1777 The settlers of Vermont, which will not officially become a state until 1791, nonetheless adopt a constitution, the first in America to ban slavery and enact universal manhood suffrage.

July 27, 1777 The Marquis de Lafayette arrives in Philadelphia from France and offers his services to the Continental Congress, which commissions him a major general.

350 YEARS AGO

June 10, 1652 In defiance of English law, the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first colonial mint, which produces the famous pine tree shilling.