This Day In History, July 25th

What happened on this day in history: Emmett Till is born in Chicago, details of the Tuskegee Experiment are released, and more.

1587: Missionaries Are Banished From Japan

Concerned that too many lords were converting, Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues an edict that bans Christian missionaries from Japan. Many continued to operate in secret, however, which led to the crucifixion of 26 Christians in Nagasaki in 1597. Christianity was largely banned in Japan in 1614, a ban that remained in place until 1873.


1832: The First Railroad Accident Takes Place In The U.S.

America’s first railroad accident takes place near Quincy, Massachusetts. Then, four people standing atop a vacant car were thrown off after a cable snapped. They fell off the train and down a 34-foot drop, where three were injured and one died.

1941: Emmett Till Is Born

Today In History July 25

Library of CongressEmmett Till and his mother Mamie, circa 1950.

Emmett Louis Till is born in Chicago, Illinois. Just 14 years later, Till was gruesomely murdered in Money, Mississippi, after he was accused of catcalling a white woman storekeeper. Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, famously kept his coffin open at his funeral, and the resulting photographs of the 14-year-old’s battered body helped spark the burgeoning civil rights movement.


1972: The Tuskegee Experiment Is Revealed

The U.S. public learns about the Tuskegee experiment for the first time. The experiment, which endured from 1932 until 1972, studied the progression of untreated syphilis in poor Black men. But the men didn’t know about the experiment, and some of them unknowingly passed it on to their families.


1988: Judith Barsi Is Murdered

Judith Barsi

YouTubeJudith Barsi in Slam Dance.

Judith Barsi is murdered by her father in Los Angeles. The 10-year-old child actress had made a name for herself by appearing in shows like Cheers and films Jaws: The Revenge, but her home life was volatile. Her father, József, abused both Judith and her mother Maria, and murdered them both before he turned the gun on himself.