Weather records <\/strong>(from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n 1908:<\/strong> Jack Johnson<\/a> \u2014 who lived in Chicago and owned a\u00a0short-lived cafe<\/a> in the Bronzeville neighborhood \u2014 became the first Black heavyweight boxing champion. Johnson defeated Tommy Burns in the 14th round by decision in Sydney, Australia, \u201cwhen the police took a hand in the affair and stopped the uneven battle,\u201d the Tribune reported.<\/p>\n Five years later, an all-white jury in Chicago convicted<\/a>\u00a0Johnson\u00a0of traveling with his white girlfriend, Lucille Cameron, in violation of the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for \u201cimmoral\u201d purposes.<\/p>\n The case would later be held up as a deplorable example of institutional racism in early 20th-century America. He was sentenced<\/a>\u00a0to a year and a day in prison in June 1913, but fled to Canada with Cameron, whom he married while free on bond. He remained a fugitive for seven years, traveling from Europe to Mexico, where he fought bulls and ran a bar called the Main Event.<\/p>\n Johnson\u00a0returned<\/a>\u00a0to the United States in 1920 and turned himself in. He served about a year in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, and was\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0in July 1921 \u2014 arriving back in Chicago a few days later to\u00a035,000 people<\/a>\u00a0cheering him on. Johnson\u00a0died<\/a>\u00a0on June 10, 1946, in an auto crash in North Carolina, after storming out of a diner where he\u2019d been asked to sit in a rear section reserved for Blacks. He is buried in\u00a0Graceland Cemetery<\/a>.<\/p>\n How many presidential pardons or sentence commutations have been granted to people from Illinois?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n President Donald Trump granted a rare posthumous pardon<\/a> to Johnson on May 24, 2018, clearing Johnson\u2019s name more than 100 years after what many see as his racist conviction. The case had been brought to Trump\u2019s attention by \u201cRocky\u201d star\u00a0Sylvester Stallone<\/a>.<\/p>\n 1944:<\/strong> Tennessee Williams\u2019 \u201cThe Glass Menagerie\u201d \u2014 \u201cwhich tells a worried mother\u2019s problems<\/a> in marrying off her crippled daughter,\u201d the Tribune earlier reported \u2014 held its world premiere at the Civic Theatre in Chicago. The four-character play<\/a> starred Eddie Dowling, Laurette Taylor, Julie Haydon and Robert Stevenson. The cost of the production was expected to be $40,000<\/a> (or roughly $728,000 in today\u2019s dollars).<\/p>\n On Dec. 27, 1944, the feature pages of the Tribune offered a review of the new play. The headline read: \u201cFragile Drama Holds Theater in Tight Spell.\u201d The reviewer was Claudia Cassidy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cParadoxically, it is a dream in the dusk and a tough little play that knows people and how they tick<\/a>,\u201d Cassidy wrote in her review. \u201cEtched in the shadows of a man\u2019s memory, it comes alive in theater terms of words, motion, lighting, and music. If it is your play, as it is mine, it reaches out tentacles, first tentative, then gripping, and you are caught in its spell.\u201d<\/p>\n 1969:<\/strong> A gunman hijacked<\/a> Chicago-bound United Airlines Flight 929 \u2014 a Boeing 727 with 32 people on board \u2014 and forced it to fly to Havana from New York City. Pilot Axel D. Paulsen was ordered, \u201cTake this ship to Cuba \u2014 and no funny business.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the airline said Paulsen told dispatch: \u201cThe guy\u2019s got a gun but he\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n The plane touched down in Havana at 10:03 p.m. then flew to Miami at 1:23 a.m. Chicago time. It was the 33rd American plane hijacked that year.<\/p>\n 2018:<\/strong> Retiring Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis signed a secret agreement<\/a> with federal prosecutors admitting to taking bribes from real estate developers in exchange for his help on zoning issues. The terms of the unprecedented, deferred prosecution agreement that Solis signed with the U.S. attorney\u2019s office that day weren\u2019t made public until April 2022. He became a government mole by wearing an undercover wire to help federal investigators build cases against 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke<\/a> and ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Dishonor Roll: Chicago officials<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Solis entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney\u2019s office, which agreed to drop bribery charges against him in 2025 if he continues to cooperate.<\/p>\n Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a> stay current with Today in Chicago History<\/a> and follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\n
![\"Boxing](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-CTHIST-Jack-Johnson-004_229052381.jpg\")
Boxing legend Jack Johnson in an undated photo. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n![\"Boxing](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-JACK-JOHNSON-CT0069978253.jpg\")
Boxing legend Jack Johnson and his wife Lucille in an undated photo. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n\n
![\""The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-THE-GLASS-MENAGERIE-1944-01.jpg\")
“The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams debuted at the Civic Theatre in Chicago on Dec. 26, 1944, and received a rave review by the Tribune’s Claudia Cassidy. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-HIST-Cassidy3_189093543.jpg\")
Chicago Tribune theater critic Claudia Cassidy in the 1940s. (Chicago Tribune historical archive)<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-madigan-trial-solis09_213941286.jpg\")
Former Ald. Daniel Solis arrives at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, Nov. 25, 2024, to take the stand in the Michael Madigan corruption trial. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n