1. In 1942, Japanese warplanes bombed the U.S. military installations at Dutch Harbor, a fishing port in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. This attack marked the first time that American soil was bombed during World War II.

2. On July 3, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, which granted Alaska statehood and made it the 49th state in the United States.

3. In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on July 3. This act established a system to compensate Alaska Native groups for the loss of their traditional lands and provided for the creation of 12 regional Native corporations.

4. On July 3, 1987, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker, bound for Long Beach, California, struck a reef in Prince William Sound in Alaska, causing the largest oil spill in U.S. history at the time. The spill had devastating effects on the environment and local communities, and it took years to clean up.

5. The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) was formed on July 3, 1912, in Sitka, Alaska. The ANB was a fraternal organization that advocated for Alaska Native rights and played a significant role in the fight for Alaska Native land and citizenship.