ON NOVEMBER 24 ...

In 1713 Junipero Serra, the Franciscan priest whose missionary work in North America earned him the title Apostle of California, was born in Majorca, Spain.

In 1859 British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution.

In 1971 hijacker D.B. Cooper parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom; his fate remains unknown.

In 1989 Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu was unanimously reelected Communist Party chief. (Within a month, he was overthrown in a popular uprising and executed.)

In 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider George W. Bush’s appeal against the recounting by hand of ballots in Florida.

In 2005 a suicide bomber struck outside a hospital south of Baghdad while U.S. troops were handing out candy and food to children; the blast killed some 30 people.

In 2012 three-time world boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho died after being shot in the face and neck four days earlier in San Juan, Puerto Rico; he was 50.

In 2014 a Missouri grand jury decided to not indict Darren Wilson, a white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, touching off violent protests in Ferguson, Missouri.

In 2015 Chicago officials, acting on a judge’s order, released a police dashcam video of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year-old, by white police Officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014, triggering weeks of angry protests; hours before the video was released, Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder and fired from the Police Department.