A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on February 6th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On February 6, 60 AD, in the Roman city of Pompeii, an unknown graffiti artist noted that the day was “dies Solis” (Sunday), the first known instance of being able to attach a date to a day of the week.
On February 6, 1820, The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America (better known as the American Colonization Society) sent the first 86 African Americans back to Africa to form a new country of freed slaves and free born African Americans known today as Liberia.
On February 6, 1862, Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant led American Union forces to victory in the Battle of Fort Henry in Tennessee, the first battle of significance won by the Union Army in the US Civil War.
On February 6, 1959, an engineer at Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby, filed for the first patent for the “integrated circuit,” a small piece of silicon with many circuits called MOSFETs integrated on it, a device we know as the “microchip.”
On February 6, 1988, Michael Jordan soared into basketball history with his unique slam dunk, taking off from the free throw line!
On February 6, 1998, Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
On February 6, 2014, Jay Leno ended his run as host of The Tonight Show for the second time.
On February 6, 2018, we stand with the United Nations in recognizing International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.
On February 6, 2023, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit Turkey in the area of Gaziantep in the South-Central part of the country.
Question for students (and subscribers): Which event that occurred on today’s date would you like to learn more about? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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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.
