ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — This week in New York history features New York legalizing same-sex marriage, New York officially becoming a state, and the race riots in Rochester, which killed four people. All information has been provided by the New York State Museum History Department.

Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez appears in the press room with the Icon Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on March 22, 2022. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

July 24

  • 1899: Newsboy strike in New York City.
  • 1920: Bella Abzug, a lawyer, Congresswoman, social activist, and leader of the Women’s Movement, was born in New York City.
  • 1964: Race riot in Rochester. Ended on July 27. Four people were killed.
  • 1969: Actor and singer Jennifer Lopez is born in New York City.
  • 2011: New York State legalizes same-sex marriage.
A Progress Pride flag and rainbow flags are seen at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP)

July 25

  • 1686: The Dongan Charter is ratified, incorporating Albany as a city.
  • 1759: British troops under Sir William Johnson and General John Prideaux capture Fort Niagara during the French and Indian War.
  • 1939: W2XBS TV in New York City presents the first musical comedy seen on TV. The show was “Topsy and Eva.”

July 26

  • 1778: New York ratifies the U.S. Constitution and becomes a state.

July 27

United States Postal Service mail delivery vehicles (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
  • 1777: The Massacre of Jane McCrea near Fort Edward sparked an increase in Patriot military recruiting and outrage over the British’s inability to punish the killers.
  • 1958: William Shea announces he plans to have a baseball team in New York City in 1961.
  • 2011: The United States Postal Service issues a Forever stamp honoring Owney (1887-1897), the Albany-based “postal dog” and mascot of the Railway Post Office and the United States Postal Service.

July 28

  • 1917: “Silent Parade” in NYC to protest lynching and the East St. Louis Riots.
  • 1927: Poet John Ashbery is born in Rochester.
  • 1929: Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis is born in Southampton.
  • 1945: An Army Air Corps B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building on the 79th floor.
Ken Burns
Ken Burns takes part in a panel discussion during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on July 29, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

July 29

  • 1941: Strike at the Brooklyn Navy Yard by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
  • 1953: Ken Burns, known for his documentaries about the Brooklyn Bridge, the Civil War, baseball, and jazz, is born in Brooklyn.

July 30

  • 1609: Samuel de Champlain, accompanied by Algonquin Natives, goes into battle against the Mohawks in what is now the Mohawk Valley.
  • 1777: George Clinton is inaugurated as Governor at Kingston.