Lehman Brothers file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection. This was the largest bankruptcy in US history.

John Bull becomes the oldest operable locomotive. The steam locomotive manufactured by the British and operated in New Jersey, US became the world's oldest and still operable locomotive when the Smithsonian operated it on this day. It was first put to use on September 15, 1831.

A Ku Klux Klan bomb kills 4 young African-American girls. 4 members of the white supremacy group, set off a timed bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church, a predominantly black church in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombings marked a watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement in America.

Nuremberg laws instituted by the Nazi party are put into force. The laws revoked citizenship for Jews, forbade them from having relationships with people of non-Jewish origin and made the swastika the official symbol of Germany.

Battle of Pyongyang ends with decisive Japanese victory. The battle was a major land battle took place between the forces of Meiji Japan and Qing China during the First Sino-Japanese War.