Explore 1429 historical events from 1880–1889.
Mamie Smith was an American singer. As a vaudeville singer, she performed in multiple styles, including jazz and blues. In 1920, she entered blues history as the first African-Amer…
Mamie Smith, American singer, actress, dancer, and pianist (died 1946)
Jessie Hazel Arms Botke was an Illinois and California painter noted for her bird images and use of gold leaf highlights.
Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (died 1971)
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly known as Veer Savarkar, was an Indian political activist, revolutionary, and ideologue. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideol…
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (died 1966)
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in t…
Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed the Portmeirion Village (died 1978)
Sidney Charles Pearce, better known as Sandy, was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer and boxer. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th centur…
Sandy Pearce, Australian rugby league player (died 1930)
Lauri Kristian Relander was the president of Finland (1925–1931). A prominent member of the Agrarian League, he served as a member of Parliament, and as Speaker, before his electio…
Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (died 1942)
Mary Helen Young was a Scottish nurse and resistance fighter who helped British servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied France during World War II. She was imprisoned by the Gestapo a…
Mary Helen Young, Scottish nurse and resistance fighter during World War II (died 1945)
Fernand Gonder was a French pole vaulter who won the gold medal at the 1906 Intercalated Games.
Fernand Gonder, French pole vaulter (died 1969)
Robert Harry Lowie was an Austrian-American anthropologist. An expert on Indigenous peoples of the Americas, he was instrumental in the development of modern anthropology and has b…
Robert Lowie, Austrian-American anthropologist and academic (died 1957)
Gladys Mills Phipps was an American socialite, sportsperson, and a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder who began the Phipps family dynasty in American horse racing. She was kn…
Gladys Mills Phipps, American horse breeder (died 1970)
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, was an English economist whose writings are considered the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, as well as its vario…
John Maynard Keynes, English economist, philosopher, and academic (died 1946)
Sylvanus Griswold Morley was an American archaeologist and epigrapher who studied the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in the early 20th century. Morley led extensive excavations of…
Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and scholar (died 1948)
Fyodor Vasilyevich Gladkov was a Soviet and Russian socialist realist writer, best known for his 1925 novel Cement. Gladkov joined a Marxist group in 1904, and in 1905 went to Tifl…
Feodor Gladkov, Russian author and educator (died 1958)
Victor Franz Hess was an Austrian–American experimental physicist who shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics with Carl David Anderson for his discovery of cosmic rays.
Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1964)
Fritz Löhner-Beda, born Bedřich Löwy, was an Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer. Once nearly forgotten, many of his songs and tunes remain popular today. He was murdered in A…
Fritz Löhner-Beda, Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer (died 1942)
Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism…
Jean Metzinger, French artist (died 1956)
Arthur Lee Newton was an American athlete who competed mainly in the distance events. He was born in Woodstock, Vermont, but moved to New Rochelle, New York in 1912, where he was a…
Arthur L
William Franklyn "Bill" Verner was an American athlete and middle-distance runner who competed in the early twentieth century.
Frank Verner, American runner (died 1966)
Pierre Jean Marie Laval was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vichy Fr…
Pierre Laval, French soldier and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (died 1945)
Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Drummond Borton, was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British a…
Arthur Borton, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1933)
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor.
Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (died 1970)
Gustave Lanctot, also spelled Gustave Lanctôt, was a Canadian historian and archivist.
Gustave Lanctot, Canadian historian, author, and academic (died 1975)
Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern, was a Rhodesian politician and physician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1933 to 1953 and remained i…
Godfrey Huggins, Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (died 1971)
Franz Kafka was a German-language Jewish Czech writer and novelist born in Prague, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature, his…
Franz Kafka, Czech-Austrian author (died 1924)