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Today in History: August 28, MLK delivers 'I Have a Dream' speech
A quarter-million people heard a historic civil rights speech in Washington; the event unfolded before the Lincoln Memorial.
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LA NACION
Today is Friday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2026. There are 125 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech before an estimated 250,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Also on this date:
In 1845, the first issue of Scientific American magazine was published; it remains the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States.
In 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run began in Prince William County, Virginia, during the Civil War; the Union army retreated two days later after suffering 14,000 casualties.
In 1898, pharmacist Caleb Bradham of New Bern, North Carolina, changed the name of the carbonated beverage he’d created five years earlier from “Brad’s Drink” to “Pepsi-Cola.”
In 1955, Emmett Till, a Black teenager from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in Mississippi by two white men after he had allegedly whistled at a white woman four days earlier; he was found dead three days later.
In 1957, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina notched the longest speaking filibuster in Senate history (24 hours and 18 minutes), seeking to stall passage of the Civil Rights Act. (Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey delivered the longest continuous Senate floor speech from March 31 to April 1, 2025, speaking 25 hours and 5 minutes against President Donald Trump.)
In 1968, police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.
In 1988, 70 people were killed when three Italian Air Force stunt planes collided during an air show at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, West Germany.
In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation as Hurricane Katrina approached the city.
In 2013, a military jury sentenced Army Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that claimed 13 lives and left 30 people injured.
In 2016, six scientists completed a yearlong Mars simulation on the Big Island of Hawaii, where they emerged after living in a dome in near isolation on Mauna Loa.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Ken Jenkins (TV: “Scrubs”) is 86. Former MLB manager and player Lou Piniella is 83. Former MLB pitcher Ron Guidry is 76. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove is 74. Artist Ai Weiwei is 69. Actor Daniel Stern is 69. Olympic gold medal figure skater Scott Hamilton is 68. Actor Jennifer Coolidge is 65. Film director David Fincher is 64. Country singer Shania Twain is 61. “Pokemon” creator Satoshi Tajiri is 61. Actor Billy Boyd is 58. Actor Jack Black is 57. Hockey Hall of Famer Pierre Turgeon is 57. Actor Jason Priestley is 57. Olympic gold medal swimmer Janet Evans is 55. Actor Carly Pope is 45. Country singer Jake Owen is 45. Country singer LeAnn Rimes is 44. Rock singer Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) is 40. Actor Quvenzhane (kwuh-VEHN’-zhah-nay) Wallis is 23.
LA NACION
