On this day in 1947, in New York City, Edwin Land demonstrated the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
On this day in 1952, the British government, under Winston Churchill, abolished identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".
On this day in 1965, African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
And on this day in 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.