A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on October 16th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On October 16, 1384, Jadwiga, a woman, was crowned KING of Poland.
On October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger (nee Higgins), nurse, writer, and sexual educator opened the first family planning (birth control) clinic in the United States.
On October 16, 1968, two U.S. Olympic athletes on the medal podium raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the American national anthem to protest the status of human rights in the U.S., particularly in regard to African-Americans.
On October 16, 1968, the island country of Jamaica, a majority Black African heritage nation (92%+ African heritage population) experienced riots because a Black Guyanese professor, Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney, was banned from returning to Jamaica to teach at the University of the West Indies.
On October 16, 1972, a Cessna 310 light airplane carrying Congressman Nick Begich (D-Alaska) and Congressman Hale Boggs (D-Louisiana) along with the pilot and Begich’s aide disappeared on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau.
On October 16, 1991, 35 year old loser George Hennard crashed his truck into the front of a Luby’s Cafeteria in Kileen, Texas, hopped out of the pick-up, and began shooting, eventually killing 24 people (including himself) and wounding another 27.
On October 16, 1991, a disturbed man crashed his pick-up truck into a Luby’s cafeteria in Texas, and proceeded to shoot and kill 24 people, including himself.
On October 16, 2008, Ohio handyman Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher was all the rage among supporters of Senator John McCain’s bid for the presidency.
On October 16, 2010, a graduate student at Auburn University named a new species of fish Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini, because he thought a marking on the fish looked like a double necked guitar used by Led Zeppelin member Jimmy Page.
On October 16, 2019, we took a critical look back at the previous night’s Democratic Presidential Debate among the 12 major candidates then still remaining in the race for the Democratic nomination for President.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Which event that occurred on today’s date would you like to learn more about?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.