Today In History

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 11, the 284th day of 2023. There are 81 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On Oct. 11, 1991, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her; Thomas reappeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a “high-tech lynching.”

ON THIS DATE

› 1614: The New Netherland Co. was formed by a group of merchants from Amsterdam and Hoorn to set up fur trading in North America.

› 1809: Just over three years after the famous Lewis and Clark expedition ended, Meriwether Lewis was found dead in a Tennessee inn, an apparent suicide; he was 35.

› 1884: Future first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City.

› 1906: The San Francisco Board of Education ordered the city’s Asian students segregated into their own school. (The order was later rescinded at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt, who promised to curb future Japanese immigration to the United States.)

› 1968: Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

› 1984: Challenger astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space as she and fellow Mission Specialist David C. Leestma spent 3 1/2 hours outside the shuttle.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry is 96. Actor Amitabh Bachchan is 81. Country singer Gene Watson is 80. Singer Daryl Hall (Hall and Oates) is 77. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is

73. Actor-director Catlin Adams is 73. Country singer Paulette Carlson is 72. Original MTV VJ Mark Goodman is 71. Actor David Morse is 70. Actor Stephen Spinella is 67. Actor-writer-comedian Dawn French is 66. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Steve Young is 62. Actor Joan Cusack is 61. Rock musician Scott Johnson (Gin Blossoms) is 61. Comedy writer and TV host Michael J. Nelson is 59. Actor Sean Patrick Flanery is 58. Actor Lennie James is 58. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Chris Spielman is 58. Country singer-songwriter Todd Snider is 57. Actor-comedian Artie Lange is 56. Actor Jane Krakowski is 55. Actor Andrea Navedo is 54. Actor Constance Zimmer is 53. Rapper MC Lyte is

53. Bluegrass musician Leigh Gibson (The Gibson Brothers) is 52. Figure skater Kyoko Ina is 51. Actor Darien Sills-Evans is 49. Actor Trevor Donovan is 45. Actor Robert Christopher Riley is 43. Actor Michelle Trachtenberg is 38. Actor Lucy Griffiths is 37. Golfer Michelle Wie is 34. Rapper Cardi B is 31.