December 10
1817
Mississippi became the 20th state in the United States.
1869
The territory of Wyoming authorized women to vote and hold office.
1901
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.
1948
The United Nations General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
1950
Dr. Ralph Bunche became the first black to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.
1964
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., received the Nobel Peace Prize.
1999
Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested and charged with stealing classified information.
2004
A U.S. passenger jet landed in Vietnam, the first one to do so since the Vietnam War ended nearly three decades earlier.
Birthdays
Emily Dickinson
1830–1886, American poet.
Thomas Gallaudet
educator of the deaf (1787)
Melvil Dewey
library pioneer (1851)
Chet Huntley
news broadcaster (1911)
Dorothy Lamour
actor (1914)
Douglas Kenney
humorist (1947)
Kenneth Branagh
actor, director (1960)
Raven-Symoné
actor, singer (1985)