February
•
Florida's orange crop is threatened by a cold snap that
sends temperatures down to 16 degrees.
April
•
Late frosts inflict considerable damage to the fruit and vegetable
crops in Central and Southern Mississippi. Farmers brace themselves to lose up
to 35% of their crop.
May
•
Railroad engineer Jonathan "Casey" Jones of Jackson, Tennessee is
killed in Vaughn, Mississippi during a collision on the Illinois Central
Railroad. The fatal mishap is linked to Jones' inability to read signal lights
in a dense fog as he engineered the Cannonball Express. Jones' plight would be
detailed in the famous song "The Ballad of Casey Jones."
July
•
Racial unrest erupts in Raleigh, North Carolina over an attempt by
state Democrats to take away from African Americans the right to vote.
•
Race riots in New Orleans lead to the destruction of scores of
African American schools and homes.
September
•
Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright conduct flight experiments at
Kittyhawk, North Carolina.
•
Lack of seating space forces Atlanta public schools to turn
away some 400 students.
•
In Atlanta a controversy erupts when members of the Grand Army of the
Republic protest the use of school books that show the Federal government in a
bad light and include a history of the Civil War sympathetic to the Confederate
cause.
December
•
John Fitzgerald of Boston and George White of North
Carolina announce the end of their respective congressional careers.
•
The first overseas telephone call is made between Key West,
Florida and Havana, Cuba.
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