Today in History: July 2, Civil Rights Act signed into law

Today in History

Today is Thursday, July 2, the 183rd day of 2026. There are 182 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress prohibiting discrimination and segregation based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin.

Also on this date:

In 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."

In 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau (gee-TOH') at the Washington, D.C., railroad station; Garfield died the following September. (Guiteau was hanged in June 1882.)

In 1917, rioting erupted in East St. Louis, Illinois, as white mobs attacked Black residents; at least 50 and as many as 200 people, most of them Black, are believed to have died in the violence.

In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight along the equator.

In 1962, the first Walmart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas.

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Gregg v. Georgia, ruled 7-2 that the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

In 1979, the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was released to the public.

In 1986, ruling in a pair of cases, the Supreme Court upheld affirmative action as a remedy for past job discrimination.

In 1990, more than 1,400 Muslim pilgrims were killed in a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel near Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

In 2002, Steve Fossett became the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world nonstop in a balloon.

In 2018, rescue divers in Thailand found alive 12 boys and their soccer coach, who had been trapped by flooding as they explored a cave more than a week earlier.

In 2020, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire on charges that she had helped lure at least three girls - one as young as 14 - to be sexually abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Maxwell would be convicted on five of six counts and sentenced to 20 years in prison.)

In 2022, the police chief for the Uvalde, Texas, school district stepped down from his City Council seat amid criticism of his response to the mass shooting at an elementary school in which 19 students and two teachers were killed on May 24 of that year.

Today's Birthdays: Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is 97. Racing Hall of Famer Richard Petty is 89. Former White House chief of staff and former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu is 87. Writer-director-comedian Larry David is 79. Actor Wendy Schaal is 72. Actor-model Jerry Hall is 70. Former baseball player Jose Canseco is 62. Race car driver Sam Hornish Jr. is 47. Former NHL center Joe Thornton is 47. Singer Michelle Branch is 43. Retired figure skater Johnny Weir is 42. Actor-singer Ashley Tisdale is 41. Former professional soccer player Alex Morgan is 37. Actor Margot Robbie is 36. Singer-rapper Saweetie is 33. U.S. Olympic swimming gold medalist Ryan Murphy is 31. Actor Caitlin Carmichael is 22.