What Happened on December 10 in History?

December 10 has been marked by several significant historical events, including the annual awarding of the Nobel Prizes, the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the end of the Spanish-American War, and the death of soul legend Otis Redding.

Key Historical Events

• 1817: Mississippi became the 20th U.S. state.

• 1869: The Wyoming Territory was the first U.S. territory to grant women the right to vote.

• 1896: Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, died. His will established the Nobel Prizes.

• 1898: The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and ceding control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the U.S.

• 1901: The inaugural Nobel Prizes were presented in Stockholm, Sweden.

• 1906: Theodore Roosevelt became the first American President to receive a Nobel Prize, specifically the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in mediating the Russo-Japanese War.

• 1936: King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson.

• 1941: During World War II, Japanese warplanes sank the British battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse off the coast of Malaya.

• 1948: The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. December 10 is observed annually as Human Rights Day.

• 1950: Ralph Bunche was the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation efforts during the first Arab-Israeli war.

• 1964: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize.

• 1967: Otis Redding died in a plane crash in Wisconsin.

• 2021: A tornado outbreak in the U.S. Midwest and South resulted in over 90 deaths.