This week in history: October 18 through October 26

October 18

1867  The Alaska territory is formally transferred to the United States from Russia.

1967  An unmanned Russian spacecraft makes the first landing on Venus’s surface.

October 19

1917  The first doughnut is fried by Salvation Army volunteer women for American troops in France during World War I.

1954  72 years of British military occupation on the Suez Canal ends when Egypt and Britain make a pact.

October 20

1714  George I of England is crowned.

1924  Baseball’s first “colored World Series” is held in Kansas City, Missouri.

October 21

1872  The United States Naval Academy accepts its first African American, John H. Conyers.

1940  Ernest Hemingway publishes his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. 

October 22

1746  Princeton University receives its charter from King George II. It becomes the fourth extant college to be established in the British colonies.

1938  Chester Carlson invents the photocopier. Companies including IBM, RCA, and Kodak don’t see the worth in the machine.

October 23

1783  Virginia emancipates slaves who fought for independence in the Revolutionary War.

1929  The first transcontinental air service begins from New York to Los Angeles.

October 24

1897  The first comic strip strip appears in the Sunday edition of New York Journal, called the “Yellow Kid.”

1916  Henry Ford awards equal pay to women.

October 25

1960  Martin Luther King, Jr., is given a four month jail sentence for a sit-in.

1962  Civil rights activist Nelson Mandela is sentenced to 5 years in prison.

October 26

1942  Japanese attack Guadalcanal, sinking two United States carriers.

1994  Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty.

Source: History Net


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