These events took place on the date of: April 20th
1777: The state of New York adopts the new constitution as an independent state.
1865: The Crosby Opera House in Chicago, Illinois to later be destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871, only six years after opening.
1871: The United States Third Enforcement Act, president can suspend writ of habeas corpus, is created.
1896: The first public showing in the United States of the film “El Capitan” by John Philip Sousa premieres in New York City.
1904: The Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St. Louis.
1914: United States President Woodrow Wilson dispatched more naval ships to Mexico, asks a joint session of Congress to approve armed force if necessary, in the United States occupation of Veracruz as Congress approves.
1918: Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1962: New Orleans Citizens Company gives free 1-way ride to blacks to move North.
1979: President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a swamp rabbit which swam up to his fishing boat in Plains, Georgia.
2021: Former police officer Derek Chauvin convicted of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, in a case that prompted huge nationwide racial justice protests.