TODAY IN HISTORY

1781

British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, as the American Revolution neared its end.

1944

The U.S. Navy began accepting Black women into the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)

1953

The Ray Bradbury novel “Fahrenheit 451,” set in a dystopian future where books are banned and burned by the government, was first published by Ballantine Books.

1960

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., arrested during a sit-down protest at a lunch counter in Atlanta, was imprisoned for a parole violation over a traffic offense.