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In this Nov. 28, 1999 file photo, Rosa Parks smiles during a ceremony where she received the Congressional Medal of Freedom in Detroit. (AP)
On this day, Oct. 24 …
2005: Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies in Detroit at age 92.
Also on this day:
- 1861: President Abraham Lincoln, in Washington, receives the first transcontinental telegraph message, sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco, over a line built by the Western Union Telegraph Co.
- 1931: The George Washington Bridge, connecting New York and New Jersey, is officially dedicated. (It would open to traffic the next day.)
- 1940: The 40-hour workweek goes into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
- 1945: The United Nations officially comes into existence as its charter takes effect.
- 1962: A naval quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy goes into effect during the missile crisis.
Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson poses in his batting stance. Robinson broke baseball's color barrier when he joined the Dodgers in April 1947, going on to be named National League Rookie of the Year. Two year's later, Robinson was named National League Most Valuable Player.
- 1972: Jackie Robinson, who'd broken Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, dies in Stamford, Conn., at age 53.
- 1989: Former television evangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced by a judge in Charlotte, N.C., to 45 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy. (The sentence would later be reduced to eight years and then further reduced to four for good behavior.)
- 1991: "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry dies in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 70.
- 1992: The Toronto Blue Jays become the first non-U.S. team to win the World Series as they defeat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in Game 6.
- 1997: In Arlington, Va., former NBC sportscaster Marv Albert is spared a jail sentence after a courtroom apology to the woman he'd bitten during a sexual romp.
- 2002: Authorities apprehend Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Md., in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks. (Malvo would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; Muhammad would be sentenced to death and executed in 2009.)
- 2008: Singer-actress Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother are found slain in their Chicago home; the body of her 7-year-old nephew would be found three days later. (Hudson's estranged brother-in-law would be convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.)
- 2018: Authorities intercept pipe bombs packed with shards of glass that were sent to several prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama; none of the bombs went off.
