Today in History for 19th October 2023

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Historical Events

1863 - Battle of Buckland Mills, Virginia
1870 - 1st African Americans (4) elected to US House of Representatives
1919 - 1st US Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a living female recipient, Anna Howard Shaw
1952 - Alain Bombard departs from the Canary Islands on his solitary journey across the Atlantic ocean with almost no provisions and only a sextant for navigation to test his theory that a shipwrecked person could survive
2013 - 16 people are killed and 30 are wounded by a suicide bombing Beledweyne, Somalia
2019 - Sunnyside, Queens, New York City: Intersection of 46th Street and Skillman Avenue named "Ethel Plimack Way", in honor of a longtime resident

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Famous Birthdays

1688 - William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)
1866 - Clarence Lucas, Canadian composer, librettist, conductor, and music professor, born in Six Nations Reserve, Ontario (d. 1947)
1954 - Deborah Blum, American writer
1962 - Tracy Chevalier, American author
1964 - Webster Slaughter, NFL wide receiver (KC Chiefs)
1969 - Pedro Castillo, Peruvian teacher, union leader and politician (President of Peru 2021-22), born in Puña,, Peru

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Famous Deaths

1609 - Jacobus Arminius [Jacob Hermans], theologist, dies at about 49
1918 - Harold Lockwood, American actor (Tess of the Storm Country), dies from the flu at 31
1988 - Edward "Son" House, American delta blues singer-songwriter and guitarist ("Walking Blues"; "Preachin' The Blues"), dies of larynx cancer at 86
1996 - Neville Robinson, English physicist, dies at 71
1997 - Pilar Miró, Spanish screenwriter and director (Wether, Beltenebros), dies at 57
2003 - Hawk [Michael Hegstrand], American professional wrestler (ECW/WCW/WWF/AWA, Legion of Doom), dies at 46

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