The Monument to Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was dedicated on September 6, 1854, funded and commissioned by the deaf community itself. It honors Gallaudet—a minister and teacher—whose encounter with a deaf child sparked a lifelong mission.
Compassionate and devout, Gallaudet co-founded America’s first permanent school for the Deaf and championed inclusive education. The obelisk honors language, dignity, and the transformative power of human connection, portraying Gallaudet in the act of instruction.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Amid the chaos of war, this photograph—taken on September 6, 1944—captures a moment of mercy. A young Nazi soldier, likely still in his teens, sits wounded and subdued. An American serviceman kneels beside him, tending to the injury with calm and care while awaiting a medic.

This gesture of compassion does not excuse the ideology the boy once served. Instead, it reflects the moral clarity of those who fought against it—reminding us that even in the face of cruelty, humanity can endure.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Charleston, South Carolina (vicinity). View of Forts Wagner & Gregg on Morris Island, evacuated by Confederates, September 6, 1863

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On September 6, 1870, Wyoming resident Louisa Swain became the first woman to legally vote in The United States during a general election. It was the first time a woman voted legally in the U.S. since 1807 when New Jersey’s voting laws based on property ownership had changed.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Birthplace of General Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution, in Chavaniac, France. He was born here on September 6, 1757.

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President William McKinley’s last photo, taken on the date of his assassination

– September 6, 1901

Image by E. Benjamin Andrews via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

“Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.”

A quote by Jane Addams: American reformer, co-founder of the Hull House in Chicago and the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Addams was born on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois.

Image: Jane Addams in 1900 via Library of Congress, no known restrictions

American comedian Jeff Foxworthy was born on September 6, 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Image of Jeff Foxworthy in 2015 by Midwest Communications via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

On September 6, 1936,
the film My Man Godfrey starring William Powell and Carole Lombard premiered. By the end of the movie Lombard finds a way to marry Powell, but in real life the couple had been divorced for about three years.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On September 6, 1620 (O.S. Date) The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England to establish a colony in The New World…

“Sept. 6, these troubles being blowne over, and no
wall being compacte togeather in one shipe, they put to sea againe with a prosperus winde, which continued diverce days togeather, which was some incouragemente unto them; yet according to the usuall maner many were afflicted with sea-sicknes.

And I may not omite hear a spetiall worke of God’s
providence. There was a proud and very profane
yonge man, one of the seamen, of a lustie, able body, which made him the more hauty; he would allway be contemning the poore people in their sicknes, and cursing them dayly with gree(v)ous execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help to cast halfe of them over board before they came to their jurneys end, and to make mery with what they had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly. But it pl(e)ased God before they came halfe seas over, to smite this yonge man with a greeveous disease of which he dyed in a desperate maner, and so was him selfe the first that was throwne overbord. Thus his curses light on his owne head; and it was an astonishmente to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him.
After they had injoyed faire winds and weather for a
season, they were incountred many times with crosse winds, and mette with many feirce stormes, with which the shipe was shroudly shaken, and her upper works made very leakie; and one of the maine beames in the midd ships was bowed and craked, which put them in some fear that the shipe could not be able to performe the vioage.”

From: The Mayflower Pilgrims by William Bradford
https://archive.org/details/mayflowerpilgrim00brad/page/12
Source says not in copyright

Image: The Mayflower at Sea by Granville Perkins via NYPL, no known restrictions

On today’s date September 6, 1995: Cal Ripken Jr. played his 2,131st consecutive baseball game. “The Iron Man” broke Lou Gehrig’s record, which many believed to be insurmountable and stood for 56 years.

Photo: Cal Ripken Sr. & Jr. in 1982 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Front of a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Chicago, Illinois in 1926

The first Piggly Wiggly store opened 10 years prior in Memphis, Tennessee on September 6, 1916.

The chain is considered to be the first self serve grocery store in America allowing customers to choose goods from stocked shelves.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On September 6, 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 which included the “Delaney Clause” named after N.Y. Congressman James Delaney (shown) who promoted the following provision:

“the Secretary of the Food and Drug Administration shall not approve for use in food any chemical additive found to induce cancer in man, or, after tests, found to induce cancer in animals..”

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Illustrator Jessie Wilcox Smith, born September 6, 1863 produced an immense number of magazine covers, posters, and calendars from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. Her most recognizable art illustrated many classic children’s books like “Heidi”, “Little Women”, fairy tales, poems, and story collections.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US

Photograph of Henry Ford, with a seemingly puzzled look on his face, as he walks by three men in suits who are having a laugh.

September 6, 1923

Image via LOC, no known restrictions

Born September 6, 1800, Catharine Beecher, like most of her famous family, promoted social causes. She advocated education for women, was a proponent of kindergarten, and founded The Ladies Society for Promoting Education in the West, sending trained teachers to the frontier to “civilize the young.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US

On September 6, 1924, Ruth Malcomson of Philadelphia, won the 4th Miss America Pageant.

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The IBM 7090, which was installed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in December 1959, was a game-changer for large-scale scientific computing. Faster, more dependable, and more powerful than its vacuum-tube predecessors, it was one of the first to introduce transistor technology into the general public, even though it wasn’t the first transistorized computer. Project Mercury and Gemini were among the spaceflight, aviation, and atomic research computations that were powered by the 7090. In 1961, the machine was programmed to sing “Daisy Bell,” marking a significant advancement in computer-generated speech and music.

More than just a machine is depicted in this photo taken on September 6, 1961; it also captures the partnership between industry, science, and government in the middle of the century. The 7090 assisted NASA engineers in turning theoretical potential into technological reality.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain