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1776
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1883
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more events on July 4
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1976
An Israeli raid at Entebbe airport in Uganda rescues 105 hostages.
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1960
The 50-star flag makes its debut in Philadelphia.
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1946
The United States grants the Philippine Islands their independence.
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1934
Boxer Joe Louis wins his first professional fight.
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1931
Novelist James Joyce and Nora Barnacle are married in London after being together for 26 years.
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1927
Neil Simon, American playwright (The Odd Couple, The Prisoner of Second Avenue).
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1910
Race riots break out all over the United States after African American Jack Johnson knocks out Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match.
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1905
Lionel Trilling, literary critic and educator.
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1901
William H. Taft becomes the American governor of the Philippines.
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1898
Gertrude Lawrence, English actress.
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1895
The poem America the Beautiful is first published.
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1894
After seizing power, Judge Stanford B. Dole declares Hawaii a republic.
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1883
Rube Goldberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist.
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1881
Billy the Kid is shot dead in New Mexico.
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1872
Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States (1923-1929).