AARP Eye Center
This Week in Boomer History: Stonewall ... Sotomayor ... Pong
By Steve Mencher, June 22, 2014 02:00 AM
Notable events from our shared experience
Sonia Sotomayor is born June 25, 1954 in Bronx, New York. In 2009, she becomes the first Hispanic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles release " The Tracks of My Tears" on June 23, 1965; the song later resurfaces on the soundtrack of the films The Big Chill (1983) and Platoon (1986).
On June 25, 1950, North Korea invades South Korea. In three years of battle, more than 36,000 American servicemen will die and more than 100,000 Americans will be wounded.
>> Get travel discounts with your AARP Member Advantages.
Breaking its practice of mostly choosing astronauts from the military, NASA goes with six " scientist-astronauts" on June 26, 1965 to train for flights to the moon.
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney found the video game company Atari on June 27, 1972, in Santa Clara, Calif. Atari's Pong is said to be the world's first commercially successful video game.
Michael Jackson dies on June 25, 2009, at age 50 from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol. He has sold more than 750 million albums, and his Thriller (1982) is the best-selling album of all time.
Patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, clash with police on June 27, 1969, an incident considered to be the birth of the gay rights movement in the U.S. The Stonewall Inn is still in business, featuring drag shows, karaoke and dance parties.
>> Sign up for the AARP Health Newsletter
Let us read This Week in Boomer History to you:
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/153115161" params="color=00aabb&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
Visit Boomers, the Generation That Changed the World from AARP. 
Visit and contribute to our Boomer Tumblr.
Photos - Sonia Sotomayor: U.S. Supreme Court; Astronauts: NASA (L-R: Curtis Michel, Physicist; Owen K. Garriot, Physicist; Harrison H. Schmitt, Astrogeologist; Edward G. Gibson, Physicist; and Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin, Physician); Stonewall writing: Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images; Stonewall neon promo image: Keith Bedford/Reuters/Corbis
Also of Interest
- This Week in Boomer History: 'Born in the U.S.A' ... Bobby Kennedy Shot ... 'Tank Man'
- You Won't Believe What They Found on Colonoscopy Instruments
- Fight fraud and ID theft with the AARP Fraud Watch Network.
- Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being
See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more