11 Things That Happened This Day In History - 17th September

1. 1920 - The American Professional Football Association is formed, the precursor to the National Football League (NFL)

2. 1939 - Soviet Union invades eastern Poland

3. 1944 - The airborne invasion of Holland begins, when British, American and Polish troops descend behind enemy lines in a massive operation designed to bring a swift end to the war

4. 1970 - Civil war breaks out in Jordan

5. 1972 - "M*A*S*H" premiers on CBS-TV

6. 1983 - Vanessa Williams, as Miss New York, becomes the first black woman to be crowned Miss America

7. 1984 - Reggie Jackson hit his 500th career home run. It is exactly 17 years from the day he hit his first major league home run

8. 1993 - The British National Party wins its first council seat in a by-election in East London

9. 1999 - Eminem's mum files a $10m lawsuit against the singer for making defamatory remarks about her in interviews

10. 2001 - After 6 days following the 9-11 terrorist bombing in New York City, Wall Street re-opens for business and resumes trading, ending the longest shut down since the Great Depression

11. 2011 - The 'Occupy Wall Street' protest begins in New York City

Sources: BBC, Wikipedia,historyorb.com, infoplease.com, history.co.uk,brainyhistory.com, on-this-day.com, thepeoplehistory, onthisdayinhistory.com

image: © David Shankbone