DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Tuesday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2021. There are 94 days left in the year.
On this date:
1066: William the Conqueror invaded England to claim the English throne.
1781: American forces in the Revolutionary War, backed by a French fleet, began their successful siege of Yorktown, Va.
1787: The Congress of the Confederation voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.
1850: Flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.
1920: Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were indicted for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. (All were acquitted at trial, but all eight were banned from the game for life.)
1924: Three U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, having completed the first round-the-world trip by air in 175 days.
1928: Scottish medical researcher Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first effective antibiotic.
1939: During World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a treaty calling for the partitioning of Poland, which the two countries had invaded.
1962: A federal appeals court found Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett in civil contempt for blocking the admission of James Meredith, a Black student, to the University of Mississippi. (Federal marshals escorted Meredith onto the campus two days later.)
1991: Jazz great Miles Davis died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 65.
1995: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord at the White House ending Israel’s military occupation of West Bank cities and laying the foundation for a Palestinian state.
2000: Capping a 12-year battle, the government approved use of the abortion pill RU-486.
2019: Voters in Afghanistan went to the polls to elect a president for the fourth time since a U.s.-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime in 2001; the vote was marred by violence, Taliban threats and widespread allegations of mismanagement. (After a series of delays, the country’s independent election commission announced months later that Ashraf Ghani had won a second term as president.)
Actor Brigitte Bardot is 87. Actor Joel Higgins (“Silver Spoons”) is 78. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 75. Actor Vernee
Watson (“Bob Hearts Abishola,” “Fresh Prince of Bel-air”) is 72. Writer-director-actor John Sayles is 71. Guitarist George Lynch (Dokken) is 67. Actor-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 57. Country singer Matt King is 55. Actor Mira Sorvino is 54. TV personality and singer Moon Zappa is 54. Actor Naomi Watts is 53. Country singer Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town is 52. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 46. Rapper Young Jeezy is 44. Actor Peter Cambor (“NCIS: Los Angeles”) is 43. TV personality Bam Margera (“Jackass”) is 42. Actor Jerrika Hinton (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 40. Guitarist Luke Mossman of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats is 40. Musician St. Vincent is 39. Actor Hilary Duff is 34.