1. Illinois became a state in 1818 on December 3, but November 1 marks the day the Illinois Constitution was adopted and made official in 1818.

2. On November 1, 1832, Black Hawk War leader Chief Black Hawk was captured near the Rock River in northern Illinois, bringing an end to the conflict.

3. In 1883, the first operational electric trolley car system in the world was launched in Champaign, Illinois on November 1.

4. November 1, 1955 marks the release of the book "Black Boy" by Richard Wright. The book is an autobiography about growing up in the Jim Crow South and is considered a classic of African American literature.

5. On November 1, 1963, African American civil rights leader Medgar Evers spoke at the Lincoln Memorial in Springfield, Illinois, calling for an end to segregation and discrimination. Evers was assassinated less than a year later in Jackson, Mississippi.