Commentaries by Mark A. Summers

On July 22, 1939, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia appointed Jane Matilda Bolin a judge of the city's Domestic Relations Court, making her the first African-American woman appointed to judicial office in the United States. She served on the court for 40 years. Learn more about Jane Matilda Bolin.

On July 22, 1976, Japan paid the last of its World War II reparations to the Philippines.