Sept. 17 history: Constitution

 Sept. 17 in history

In 1862, Confederate and Union troops in the Civil War clash - in a basic stalemate - near Maryland’s Antietam Creek in the bloodiest single day in American military history with 23,000 casualties and 3,200 killed. The Battle of Antietam marked the culmination of CSA Gen. Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the northern states. 

In 1787, U.S. Constitution signed. U.S. Constitution signed | September 17, 1787 | HISTORY

In 1796, Washington prepares final draft of presidential farewell address. George Washington prepares final draft of farewell address | September 17, 1796 | HISTORY 

In 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declares that the Polish government has ceased to exist, as the U.S.S.R. exercises the “fine print” of the Hitler-Stalin Non-aggression pact—the invasion and occupation of eastern Poland. 

In 1968, Diahann Carroll starred in the title role in “Julia” - the first Black actress to star in a non-stereotypical role in her own television series. Her performance garnered an Emmy nomination. She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series and Mattel even created a Barbie in her image. 

In 1976, 1976, NASA publicly unveils its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, Calif. Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost $10 billion and took nearly a decade. 

In 1978, At the White House in Washington, D.C., Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Accords, laying the groundwork for a permanent peace agreement between Egypt and Israel after three decades of hostilities. The accords were negotiated during 12 days of intensive talks at President Jimmy Carter’s Camp David retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. 

In 1983, 1983, 20-year-old Vanessa Williams becomes the first Black woman to win the Miss America crown. 

In 2011, 2011, hundreds of activists gather around Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan for the first day of the Occupy Wall Street Movement—a weeks-long sit-in in New York City’s Financial District protesting income inequality and corporate corruption. While the movement failed to see any of its goals or policy proposals come to fruition, years later, Occupy Wall Street is still considered a blueprint for decentralized activism.