June 21, 1981: 11 climbers are killed in an avalanche on Mt. Rainier This is the deadliest mountaineering accident in U.S. history.
June 21, 1964: Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
June 22, 2013: In Pakistan, the Talban murder 11 climbers on Nanga Parbat, the ninth tallest mountain in the world.
June 22, 1969: The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
June 23, 1944: The Shinnston tornado kills 103 people in West Virginia. It is the deadliest tornado in that state’s history.
June 23, 1611: The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson’s fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.
June 24, 1947: Pilot Kenneth Arnold sees 9 strange objects flying in a line at speeds faster than any known planes could fly. This sighting, near Mount Rainier, is credited with starting the whole modern UFO craze, as well as creating the term “flying saucer.”
June 25, 1876: The battle of Little Bighorn
June 25, 1978: The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
June 26, 1807: The deadliest single lightning strike in recorded history.
A lightning bolt hits a gunpowder plant in Luxembourg. The resulting explosion levels at least two blocks and killed over 300 people.
June 26, 2015: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
June 27, 1957: Hurricane Audrey, the strongest hurricane to ever strike the United States in the month of June, makes landfall on the Texas/Louisiana border. Over 500 die.
The storm had been a category 2 hurricane. Just before landfall it rapidly intensified to a strong category 4. Most of the deaths were from the destructive storm surge.
June 27, 1941: Romanian authorities launch one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Iași, resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews.
June 28, 1904: The SS *Norge *passenger liner hits a reef and sinks in the Atlantic ocean. Over 650 die. The Danish ship had been taking immigrants to America. Some lifeboats with passengers were not found until almost a week later. At the time (8 years before Titanic), this was the Atlantic’s deadliest maritime accident. (Note: the link above incorrectly puts the sinking in 1903.)
June 28, 1969: The Stonewall riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.
June 29, 1995: The Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, South Korea collapses killing over 500, and injuring another 900. Gross negligence, corruption and greed once again combine and lead to a terrible disaster.
June 29, 1613: The Globe Theatre in London burns to the ground.
June 30, 1908: The Tuguska Eventoccurs in remote Siberia.
June 30, 1905: Albert Einstein sends the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity, for publication in Annalen der Physik.
July 1, 1916: On this single day, the first day of the battle of Somme in WWI, the British army suffers over 57,000 casualties and over 19,200 deaths to gain three square miles of territory.