November 7: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

RedOctane released Guitar Hero for PlayStation 2 in North America.

While this was the first rhythm-based guitar game to hit US shelves, it wasn't the first to use a guitar-shaped controller. It was modeled off a game called Guitar Freaks, which was only released in Japan. Guitar Hero's developers were surprised by how wildly popular the game ended up being, as they merely thought it would be a fun game to create.

The popular Christmas comedy movie, Elf, was released in the USA.

Hilary Clinton made history when she became the first-ever First Lady to win a seat for the Democrats in the Senate.

New York City elected its first African American Mayor, David Dinkins.

David Dinkins, the 106th Mayor of New York City, was elected at the height of a 30-year upwards crime spiral. Changes he made to the city's police force affected a twelve percent drop in homicides by the end of his term.

President Eisenhower won his second term with the most significant Republican win since Abraham Lincoln’s in 1860.

Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States of America, and he won with 34 million votes, winning in a total of 41 states, and he obtained 457 electoral college votes.

The opera company The Deutsche Opernhaus (now know as Deutsche Oper Berlin) was founded. They opened with a performance of The Deutsche Opernhaus

Colorado became the second US state to give women the right to vote.

The first state to change in favor of women's suffrage was Wyoming in 1890, and Colorado wasn't far behind. The matter was decided in Colorado through a public referendum. About 55% of Colorado's population voted, with women's suffrage winning with just over half the votes.

The English explorer Verney Cameron became the first European to cross Africa from east to west.

Paris barred women from legally wearing pants.

There were some exceptions, like horse riding and bicycling. The law wasn't annulled until 2013.

The Stoughton Musical Society, the oldest musical society in the US, was formed.

They also won the nation's first singing contest in 1790.

John Austin became the last person to be publicly hanged on London’s Tyburn Gallows.

The hanging took place in Tyburn Village, which had been the official site for hangings for nearly 600 years. Future hangings would occur outside Newgate at the "New Drop."

Lord Dunmore promised freedom to every slave who enlisted into the British Army.

The London Gazette published its first edition under the name The Oxford Gazette.

It is the longest-running and continuously published newspaper in the UK. King Charles II moved his court to Oxford to escape London's plague in 1666 and established the government paper there. Once the epidemic subsided, he moved himself, his court, the paper, and the paper's name to London.

Using Johannes Kepler’s predictions, French scientist Pierre Gassendi became the first person to witness Mercury’s transit between the Earth and the Sun.

The Ensisheim Meteorite – the oldest meteorite with an observed fall – struck the Earth in France.

Named after the village it landed in, the meteorite weighed 280 lbs (127kg) and is displayed at a local museum.