On This Day for April 27 - Independence for Sierra Leone, Coretta Scott King is featured, and more

Created: 2020-04-27 10:04 Updated: 2020-04-27 10:04 Notebook: On this Day in History

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April 27

FEATURED BIOGRAPHY

Coretta Scott King

FEATURED EVENT

1961

Independence for Sierra Leone

MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2014: Pope John Paul II was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI. [Take our pope quiz.]

1992: British politician Betty Boothroyd became the first woman to be elected speaker of the House of Commons; she held the post until 2000. [ Test your knowledge of some famous firsts for women.]

1960: After several years as an autonomous republic in the French Union, the West African country of Togo became independent.

1828: The London Zoo opened in Regent's Park.

1822: Ulysses S. Grant, who commanded the Union armies during the late years (1864–65) of the American Civil War and later served as president of the United States (1869–77), was born. [ Can you identify where each president was born?]

1791: Samuel F.B. Morse, an American painter and the inventor of an electric telegraph and the Morse Code, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. [ Test your knowledge of inventors and their inventions quiz.]

SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1822

Ulysses S. Grant
president of United States

1927

Coretta Scott King
American civil-rights activist

1759

Mary Wollstonecraft
English author

1967

Willem-Alexander, king of the Netherlands
king of the Netherlands

1820

Herbert Spencer
British philosopher