November 8^th in history

Encyclopædia Britannica presents people and events from this day in history:

John Milton: Biography of the Day

John Milton

John Milton, whose Paradise Lost is regarded as the greatest epic poem in the English language and who exerted a major influence on the history of English literature, culture, and libertarian thought, died this day in 1674.

 

Douglas Wilder elected governor: 8 November 1989 - This Day in History

On this day in 1989, Virginian Douglas Wilder became the first African American to win a U.S. gubernatorial election, and, after he left office when his term expired in 1994, he was elected mayor of Richmond in 2004.

More Events on this day:

1960: John F. Kennedy was narrowly elected president of the United States.

1956: Comet Arend-Roland was discovered.

1900: Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind, was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

1837: One of the first institutions of higher education for women in the United States, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College) opened in Massachusetts.

1520: The Danish king Christian II began mass executions of Swedish nobles in what became known as the Stockholm Bloodbath.