1900 - Galveston, Texas gets obliterated by a hurricane. There were more than 8,000 fatalities and 10,000 left homeless, making it the deadliest natural disaster in US History.
1901 - President McKinley is shot twice and later dies from a gangrene infection. He would have survived if doctors understood infections better. Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as president. Roosevelt becomes the first president with round-the-clock Secret Service protection.
1916 - Piggly-Wiggly, the first self-serve grocery store, opens in Memphis, Tennessee, ending the age when the only way to buy groceries was to have a clerk assemble your order behind a counter.
1956 - Elvis Presley debuts to the nation on the Ed Sullivan’s Show. It would become the most- watched TV broadcast of the 1950s. Famously, TV sensors refused to show Elvis below the waist during his third performance, due to his “vulgar” hip gyrations.
1971 - Due to poor conditions, inmates seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York. 1,281 convicts held 39 prison guards and employees hostage for four days. By the end, 10 hostages and 29 inmates were killed.
Worst Prison Riot in U.S. History
On September 9, 1971, inmates seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York. Overcrowding and poor living conditions led to a full riot. State police regained control of three of the four cellblocks within the day. However, 1,281 inmates continue to hold 39 guards and prison employees in D Yard, an open exercise field surrounded by gun towers. The hostages were blindfolded and held in the center surrounded by inmates with makeshift clubs and knives.
After four days of failed negotiations, helicopters dropped tear gas into the yard and police fired 3000 rounds into the hazy field. 29 inmates and 10 hostages were killed in the initial attack. Another 89 were wounded. After the attack, police continued to beat and kill 4 more prisoners. Authorities incorrectly stated the hostages died from inmates cutting their throats, only to spark a Congressional investigation finding they had all actually been shot by the police.
In the following week, police were extra brutal with inmates through sexual violence, beatings and humiliation. Records show many inmates received substantial medical treatment weeks after the riot. In 1974, lawyers representing the inmates involved in the riot filed a $2.8 billion class action lawsuit against the prison and state officials. It wouldn’t be until January 2000 that New York settled the case for $8 million. The 26-year delay was due to a lower-court judge who opposed the case. Families of the slain officers received a modest death-benefit check by the state.
Attica remains one of the most infamous prison riots in US history. The New York Corrections Department made many prison reforms but most were reversed in the 80s and 90s.
Teddy Roosevelt is sworn in as US President in 1901.