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Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On October 25, 1774, women in Edenton resolved to stop buying English tea and cloth to protest taxation without representation. The event became known as the Edenton Tea Party.
On October 26, 1951, President Harry S. Truman signed the Durham-Humphrey Amendment to the 1938 Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Act into law. Cosponsored by North Carolina native Rep. Carl T. Durham and future vice president Hubert Humphrey Jr., the amendment sought to regulate the distribution of medication.
On October 25, 1969, the Malcolm X Liberation University opened in Durham. Founded by black activist Howard Fuller and named for then recently-slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, the school was founded in response to protests by students at Duke University over the lack of an African American studies program there. The school was first housed in what was once a hosiery mill on Pettigrew Street.
On October 25, 1988, professional pool player Luther Lassiter died while practicing the sport he loved at his Elizabeth City home.Born in Pasquotank County in 1918, Lassiter took an interest in pool at an early age, and the owner of a local pool hall in Elizabeth City let him practice there for free in exchange for cleaning the place after closing. He dropped out of school at 16 to pursue billiards full-time.
On October 24, 1940, African American editor, lawyer and civil rights advocate, Robert Lee Vann died at the age of 59. Among the nation’s most prominent black journalists for 30 years, Vann was born outside of what is now Ahoskie in 1879.
On October 23, 1896, the first rural free delivery, or RFD mail service in North Carolina was established in the small community of China Grove, near Salisbury in Rowan County.
Painter Elliott Daingerfield was raised in Fayetteville. His work is featured in some of leading museums of the South and the nation, including the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Smithsonian American Museum Art in Washington, D.C.
On October 22, 1780, General George Washington ordered Major General Nathanael Greene to assume command of the southern army.
On October 22, 1931, Charles Ashby Penn, developer of Lucky Strike cigarettes, died.Penn was born in Virginia in 1868, but moved with his family to Reidsville in 1874. In Rockingham County, his father established the F. R. Penn Tobacco Company, processing chewing and smoking tobacco. Charles joined the company after graduating from high school.