On This Day
What Happened on February 1 in History
8 events that happened on February 1, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1790
The U.S. Supreme Court gathers for its first session, in New York City.
The justices were due to meet at the Royal Exchange building in the temporary capital, but too few of them had arrived to form a quorum. The Court formally opened the next day, and its early sittings were taken up mostly with organizing itself.
Source: history.com; supremecourt.gov
1865
Abraham Lincoln signs the congressional resolution proposing the Thirteenth Amendment to end slavery.
The House had passed the amendment the day before, after the Senate approved it in 1864. Presidents have no formal role in amending the Constitution, but Lincoln added his signature anyway. Lincoln was killed before the states finished ratifying it in December 1865.
Source: archives.gov; nps.gov
1896
Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème has its first performance in Turin, Italy.
The young Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere at the Teatro Regio. The story of struggling artists in Paris got a mixed reception from critics at first, but it soon became one of the most performed operas in the world.
Source: history.com
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1942
The Voice of America goes on the air with its first broadcast, aimed at listeners in Europe.
Less than two months after the United States entered World War II, the government radio service began with a short program in German. It went on to report the war to audiences abroad and became a lasting part of American international broadcasting.
The Cold War
1960
Four Black college students sit down at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The students from North Carolina A&T asked for service at the Woolworth store and stayed in their seats when they were refused. Their protest grew over the following days and inspired sit-ins across the South, and the store integrated its lunch counter that summer.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com
1979
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years in exile.
Huge crowds greeted the cleric two weeks after the shah left Iran. Within days he named an interim government, and the monarchy collapsed soon afterward, leading to the founding of the Islamic Republic that spring.
Source: history.com; pbs.org
1991
A landing USAir jet collides with a commuter plane waiting on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.
A controller had cleared USAir Flight 1493 to land on the same runway where a SkyWest Metroliner was holding for takeoff. Federal investigators blamed weak air traffic control procedures and oversight, and the crash led to changes in airport and cabin safety rules.
Source: ntsb.gov
The Modern Era
2003
Space shuttle Columbia breaks apart over Texas during reentry, and all seven astronauts are lost.
Columbia was heading home after a 16-day science mission, STS-107. A piece of foam insulation had struck the left wing during launch and damaged its heat protection, letting hot gases into the wing on the way down. NASA grounded the shuttle fleet for more than two years afterward.
Source: history.com