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.