OTDTuesday, October 20

1861: The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent from California to President Abraham Lincoln.

1940: The 40 hour work week went into effect in the U.S.

2005: Civil Rights activist, Rosa Parks, died at the age of 92.

OTDWednesday, October 21,

1867: The Medicine Lodge Treaty (Kansas) was signed by Great Plains Indian leaders and the government, relocating the Plains Indians to Western Oklahoma, away from European settlements.

1879: Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light at his laboratory in New Jersey.

1917: American soldiers first saw action in World War I on the front lines in France.

OTDThursday, October 22

1836: Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas. (1845 became a state)

1962: President Kennedy announces American spy planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba.

1968: Apollo 7 safely splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean after orbiting Earth 163 times.

OTDFriday, October 23

1869: John William Heisman was born. The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the most outstanding college football player, is named after him.

1915: Over 25,00 women march in New York City advocating the right to vote.

2001: Apple Computer Inc. introduces the iPod portable digital music player

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