1. On October 16, 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The failed attempt to start a slave rebellion is seen as one of the events that led to the Civil War.

2. The first recorded performance of a Shakespeare play in America took place in Virginia on October 16, 1752. The College of William and Mary put on a production of "The Merchant of Venice."

3. On October 16, 1923, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act, which defined a person as "white" only if they could prove they were exclusively of European descent.

4. Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard was born on October 16, 1985. Goddard has become a prominent activist for gun control in the U.S.

5. On October 16, 1851, the first edition of "The Liberator," a newspaper devoted to the anti-slavery cause, was published in Boston. Its founder and editor, William Lloyd Garrison, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, but spent time living in Virginia and other southern states before becoming an outspoken critic of slavery.