A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 7th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On August 7, 1679, a small ship named Le Griffon (The Griffon) that had been built under the direction of famous explorer of the New World René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was towed to a point on the Niagara River from which it became the first European sailing vessel worthy of the designation “ship” to ever sail the Great Lakes.
On August 7th, 1908, the Venus of Willendorf, one of the earliest depictions of female nudity, was discovered in Austria.
On August 7, 1909, Alice Huyler Ramsey and three other women completed a 59-day road trip from New York to San Francisco, the first women to drive across the continent in a car.
On August 7, 1930, two African-American men were seized from jail in Indiana by an irate White mob, beaten, and hanged for the alleged crimes of robbery, rape, and murder.
On August 7, 1942, U.S. Marines landed on an island few Americans had ever heard of, Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
On August 7, 1942, US Marines landed on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands chain, initiating the first US ground offensive of World War II (a subject we previously covered in our article “First U.S. Offensive of World War II Begins on Guadalcanal”).
On August 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter recognized the toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently into a residential area canal as a federal emergency.
On August 7, 1987, an American woman named Lynne Cox, age 30, swam all the way from the United States to the Soviet Union, through ice cold water!
On August 7, 2007, Giants slugger Barry Bonds slammed his 756th career home run at his home field, AT&T Park, in San Francisco.
On Monday, August 7th,, 2017, horror fans had their chance to be among the first in Cleveland to see the Warner Bros. film Annabelle: Creation, the prequel to 2014’s Annabelle, before it opened in theaters on Friday, August 11, 2017.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.