917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu.
1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul’s Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
The country’s first Labor Day parade in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882. This sketch appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
1882 – The first Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
1960 – Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
1970 – Jochen Rindt becomes the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September” attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day.
1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate President Gerald Ford.
Births
699 – Abu Hanifa, Iraqi scholar (d. 767)
1187 – Louis VIII of France (d. 1226)
1638 – Louis XIV of France (d. 1715)
1772 – Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, Iranian king (d. 1834)
1818 – Edmund Kennedy, Australian explorer and surveyor (d. 1848)
1873 – Cornelius Vanderbilt III, American general and engineer (d. 1942)
1912 – John Cage, American composer and theorist (d. 1992)
1921 – Jack Valenti, American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (d. 2007)
1927 – Paul Volcker, American economist and academic
1942 – Werner Herzog, German actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Loudon Wainwright III, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1969 – Dweezil Zappa, American actor and musician
Deaths
1165 – Emperor Nijō of Japan (b. 1143)
1786 – Jonas Hanway, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1712)
1985 – Johannes Hint, Estonian engineer (b. 1914)
1997 – Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian nun, missionary, and saint, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
1999 – Allen Funt, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
2016 – Phyllis Schlafly, American lawyer, writer, and political activist (b. 1924)