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History of the Day for:
December 10
- 1520: Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant, or face excommunication.
- 1582: France began using the Gregorian calendar.
- 1817: Mississippi became the 20th state of the United States.
- 1851: Melvil Dewey, American librarian, was born. He devised a system of classification for library books used in libraries all over the world.
- 1868: The world's first traffic lights, built off London's Parliament Square, began operation.
- 1869: Wyoming became the first American state to grant suffrage to women when the territorial legislature decided to extend the vote to women.
- 1898: The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War.
- 1901: The king of Sweden distributed the first Nobel Prizes, in accordance with the will of inventor Alfred Nobel. The first prizes were awarded to Jean Henri Dunant and Frederic Passy.
- 1905: O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi" was published.
- 1906: President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1927: Radio announcer George Hay christened the WSM Barn Dance broadcast "The Grand Ole Opry."
- 1930: Duke Ellington and his Orchestra recorded "Mood Indigo" on Victor Records.
- 1931: Jane Addams became a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the first American woman so honored.
- 1936: King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.
- 1938: Filming on "Gone With The Wind" began on the David O. Selznick studio lot.
- 1946: The Toys For Tots Campaign was organized.
- 1950: Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, undersecretary of the U.N., became the first black to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1953: Hugh Hefner's Playboy Magazine first went on sale, containing a photo of Marilyn Monroe. Hefner's investment was $7,600.
- 1958: The first domestic passenger jet flight took place in the U.S. as a National Airlines Boeing 707 flew 111 passengers from New York to Miami.
- 1963: Donny Osmond made his debut with the Osmonds on NBC's "Andy Williams Show."
- 1964: Civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize, making him the youngest person to earn the award.
- 1965: The Warlocks adopted their new name, the Grateful Dead, for their show at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
- 1967: Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash in Wisconsin. He had just recorded what would become his biggest hit, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay."
- 1984: "Do They Know It's Christmas" the charity single by the all-star group Band Aid, was released. It entered the U.K. pop chart at No. 1, becoming the biggest-selling record of all time in Britain.
- 1990: The Food and Drug Administration approved Norplant, a long?acting contraceptive implant.
- 1994: Advertising executive Thomas J. Mosser of North Caldwell, N.J., was killed by a mail bomb linked to a 16-year-old series of bombings code-named "Unabom" by FBI.
- 1996: President Nelson Mandela signed into law a new constitution for South Africa, legally entrenching racial equality.