1. On October 19, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which levied taxes on legal documents, newspapers, magazines, and other printed materials in the American colonies. This act sparked widespread protests and resistance, including the famous Boston Tea Party.
2. On October 19, 1853, Edmond Favor Noel was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He later became the 38th governor of Mississippi, serving from 1908 to 1912. During his tenure, he advocated for better education, increased state funding for roads and bridges, and the establishment of a state agricultural college.
3. On October 19, 1938, the Mississippi River flooded severely, causing widespread damage and displacement. The flooding prompted Congress to pass the Flood Control Act of 1938, which authorized the construction of levees, dams, and other flood control infrastructure along the Mississippi and other major rivers.
4. On October 19, 1960, civil rights activist and leader Medgar Evers gave a speech at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers was the first Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and played a prominent role in the struggle for civil rights in the state. He was assassinated in Jackson in 1963.
5. On October 19, 1987, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the convictions of seven Ku Klux Klan members who had been found guilty of murdering civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman in 1964. The case, which became known as the "Mississippi Burning" trial, was one of several high-profile civil rights cases that helped to expose and prosecute racist violence and discrimination in the South.