What Happened on April 7?

April 7 is World Health Day — marking the WHO's founding — on the same date Americans saw the first public television demonstration and Rwanda begins its annual genocide remembrance.

• 1712 — A slave revolt erupts in colonial New York City

  On April 7, 1712, enslaved Africans in New York City set fires and fought guards — one of the earliest recorded slave uprisings in colonial America. Read the full story →

• 1927 — Bell Labs demonstrates public television for the first time

  On April 7, 1927, AT&T's Bell Laboratories showed live moving images over wires from Washington to New York — an early public demonstration of television. Read the full story →

• 1948 — The World Health Organization constitution enters into force

  On April 7, 1948, the WHO constitution took effect — creating the United Nations agency that coordinates global public health, disease prevention, and vaccination campaigns. Read the full story →

• 1983 — Space Shuttle Challenger arrives at Kennedy Space Center

  On April 7, 1983, NASA's orbiter Challenger rolled into Kennedy Space Center — the same vehicle that would later carry the first American woman and first African American into space before its 1986 tragedy. Read the full story →

• 1990 — Fire at the Happy Land social club kills 87 people in the Bronx

  An arson fire at the unlicensed Happy Land nightclub in New York City on April 7, 1990, killed 87 people — mostly Honduran immigrants — in one of the deadliest fires in U.S. history. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Jackie Chan (1954) · Russell Crowe (1964) · Billie Holiday (1915–1959) · Francis Ford Coppola (1939)

Days & observances

World Health Day · National Beer Day · National No Housework Day · International Beaver Day