Today is Monday, Dec. 12, the 347th day of 2016. There are 19 days left in the year.
On this date:
In 1870, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black lawmaker sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1915, singer-actor Frank Sinatra was born Francis Albert Sinatra in Hoboken, New Jersey.
In 1917, Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1947, the United Mine Workers union disaffiliated from the American Federation of Labor.
In 1963, Kenya became independent of Britain.
In 1985, 248 American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.
In 2000, George W. Bush became president-elect as a divided U.S. Supreme Court reversed a state court decision for recounts in Florida’s contested election.
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