Today in History

• 2002 Steve Fossett takes off on his record-breaking balloon flight

  The American adventurer lifted off from Northam in Western Australia to commence history’s first solo flight around the world in any aircraft. On July 3, after having traveled 33,195 km (20,626 mi), he touched down again in Queensland, Australia.

• 1987 An ETA car bomb kills 21 in Barcelona

  The 1987 Hipercor bombing was one of the bloodiest attacks by Basque separatist organization, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA.

• 1978 Garfield, the lazy cat makes his debut

  The first Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis appeared in 41 newspapers on that day. It currently holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip.

• 1964 The U.S. Senate passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964

  18 Senators unsuccessfully launched a filibuster to prevent passage of the law against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Richard Russel stated, “We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states.” The bill was signed into law on July 2, 1964.

• 1913 South Africa implements the Natives Land Act

  The law limited the areas of land that could be owned by black people to “native reserve” areas, which comprised less than 10 percent of the country’s total area. It was in force until Apartheid was dismantled in the 1990s.