August 7, 2026 celebrates Purple Heart Day, plus 4 more. Purple Heart Day on August 7 commemorates the creation of the oldest American military decoration for military merit. The Purple Heart honors the men and women who are of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. During the American Revolutionary War, the Badge for Military Merit decorated six known soldiers.
Observed annually on August 7, National Lighthouse Day honors the beacon of light that for hundreds of years symbolized safety and security for ships and boats at sea. At one time, the beacon of light could be found across almost all of America’s shorelines.
National Sea Serpent Day on August 7 commemorates this siting and the many other stories that continue to be told. If you have ever looked out over the water and thought you saw a fantastic creature break the surface, you're going to want to stick around. We're going to explore the sea serpent myth.
Enjoy fresh berries in cream on August 7 because it's National Raspberries N' Cream Day. With the raspberry season in full swing, what better way to celebrate than with this simple and delicious treat.
American political scientist, academic, and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate. He was the first Nobel laureate and the first person from African descent to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
1932
MR
Maurice Rabb Jr.
American ophthalmologist and academic widely known for his pioneering work in cornea and retinal vascular diseases.
1869
MF
Mary Frances Winston
American mathematician who became the first American woman to receive a PhD in mathematics from a European university (University of Göttingen in Germany).
1903
LL
Louis Leakey
A Kenyan-English paleontologist and archaeologist who demonstrated that humans evolved in Africa.
1966
JW
Jimmy Wales
American-British entrepreneur who co-founder of Wikipedia.
1942
GK
Garrison Keillor
American humorist, novelist, short story writer, and radio host who created the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion.
1779
CR
Carl Ritter
German geographer and academic who is considered to be one of the founders of geography.
1884
BB
Billie Burke
Broadway, radio, silent, and sound film actress best known for her role as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in The Wizard of Oz.
Historical Events on August 7
Events that occurred on August 7 throughout history
1679
The brigantine Le Griffon becomes the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
1782
George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers who are wounded in battle. The Merit is later renamed the Purple Heart.
1786
The colonial Brotherton Indian Reservation in New Jersey became the first federal Indian Reservation is created by the U.S.
1787
Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The document was written on parchment paper and delivered for proofing and edits.
1789
The U.S. Department of War is established. President George Washington signed the legislation after the first session of Congress was held. The department was later renamed the Department of Defense in 1949.
1794
President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792. The Acts were established to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
1909
Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete an auto trip from coast to coast in the U.S. The trip took 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.
1926
The first British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands track in Surrey, UK. The race featured nine starting cars, but only three drove cross the finish line.
1930
The last confirmed lynching of black people in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana, when a white mob broke into jail and lynched Black teenagers Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. A third teenager, James Cameron, narrowly survived the attack.
1942
U.S. Marines initiate the first American offensive of WWII at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The offensive lasted 6 months.
1944
IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator. Designed by Howard Aiken, the calculator was used to run complex calculations for the U.S. Navy and the Manhattan Project.
1964
Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to give President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
1969
Richard Nixon appoints Luis R. Bruce, a Mohawk-Oglala Sioux as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Bruce was also co-founder of the National Congress of American Indians.
1974
Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Petit was suspended 1,350 feet above the ground and spent 45 minutes on a steel cable, crossing the gap eight times.
1978
President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, after toxic waste had been disposed of negligently. It was the first time the U.S. used federal emergency funds for a man-made environmental disaster.
1985
Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri, and Chiaki Mukai becomes Japan's first astronauts.
1987
Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the U.S. to the Soviet Union. She swam across the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union.
1990
First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War in Operation Desert Shield. President George H.W. Bush ordered the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to help defend Saudi Arabia against Iraq.
Also Happening This Month
Longer-running observances that include this date.
