Moments in Time: YMCA
The History Channel
On June 6, 1884, philanthropist and businessman George Williams co-founded the Young Mens Christian Association, or YMCA, with the aim of creating a supportive community for men like himself to address societal challenges.
On June 9, 1902, Woodrow Wilson was elected president of Princeton University, holding the office until resigning in 1910 to run for governor of New Jersey. Wilson had graduated from the university in 1879 before studying law at the University of Virginia, then earning a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He remains the sole U.S. president to have received a doctoral degree.
On June 7, 1939, George VI and Elizabeth I became the first king and queen of Great Britain to travel to the United States, where they met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at his invitation. In a letter to her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth described the Roosevelts as "such a charming and united family and living so like English people when they come to their country house."
On June 11, 1963, Alabama governor George Wallace stood in front of the Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama and refused entry to two African American students, resulting in the issue of Executive Order 11111 by President John F. Kennedy. The order brought in the National Guard, forcing Wallace to step aside.
On June 5, 1981, a weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted five cases of a rare form of pneumonia in Los Angeles. Later, they would be recognized as the first incidences of the AIDS virus.
On June 10, 2003, the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan, opened Mrs. Fisher's Southern Cooking restaurant in honor of Abby Fisher, who journeyed from enslaved plantation cook to upscale caterer and cookbook author after migrating west to California. "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, Soups, Pickles, Preserves, Etc." is the oldest known cookbook by a formerly enslaved person.
On June 9, 2020, Dr. Kathy Sullivan became the first woman to reach the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench (36,201 feet). Sullivan had earlier achieved notoriety by becoming the first American woman to complete a spacewalk, in 1984.
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