Moments in Time – October 16, 2024

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• On Oct. 28, 1961, rocker Chuck Berry began his second court trial for allegedly transporting a minor, in this case Janice Escalante, across state lines for immoral purposes in violation of the Mann Act, after he took her on the road with his traveling show. He was convicted and served three years in prison, where he studied accounting and continued to write songs.
• On Oct. 29, 1619, Sir Walter Raleigh, an English adventurer, writer and former favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded in London 15 years after a sentence of death was brought against him for conspiracy against King James I.
• On Oct. 30, 1811, Jane Austen’s now classic novel, “Sense and Sensibility,” made its debut on the literary stage, albeit anonymously “by a Lady.” Only a small circle of people, including the Prince Regent, knew her true identity. It was a success upon publication and has been adapted many times for the stage, cinema and television.
• On Oct. 31, 1997, 33-year-old Violet Palmer became the first woman to officiate an NBA game (the Dallas Mavericks vs. the Vancouver Grizzlies), calling it a “dream come true” after “a lot of hard work.” The announcement of her achievement, however, drew little reaction from the crowd.
• On Nov. 1, 2023, the Collins Dictionary announced AI as the most notable word of that year because it “has accelerated at such a fast pace and become the dominant conversation of 2023.”
• On Nov. 2, 2011, the Chinese spacecrafts Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong-1 space lab joined in orbit, marking a first for the country and an event critical to its plans for a future space station.
• On Nov. 3, 1979, during a rally in Greensboro, N.C., by communists and industrial trade union members against the Ku Klux Klan known as the “Death to the Klan March,” in a predominantly black housing project called Morningside Heights, cars containing Klansmen and American Nazi Party members opened fire on rally members, killing five marchers and injuring others. Although 40 Klansmen and Nazis took part, only six went to trial, and all the defendants were acquitted by the white juries.

© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.