THIS DATE IN HISTORY

Today is Nov. 24. On this date in:

1859: British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.

1865: Mississippi became the first Southern state to enact laws that came to be known as “Black Codes” aimed at limiting the rights of newly freed Blacks; other states of the former Confederacy soon followed.

1941: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Edwards v. California, unanimously struck down a California law prohibiting people from bringing impoverished nonresidents into the state.

1947: A group of writers, producers and directors, who would become known as the “Hollywood Ten,” was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry.

1963: Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee

Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.

1971: A hijacker calling himself “Dan Cooper” (but who became popularly known as “D.B. Cooper”) parachuted from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 over the Pacific Northwest after receiving $200,000 in ransom; his fate remains unknown.

1974: The bone fragments of a 3.2 millionyear-old hominid were discovered by scientists in Ethiopia; the skeletal remains were nicknamed “Lucy.”

1987: The United States and the Soviet Union agreed on terms to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles.

1991: Queen singer Freddie Mercury died in London at age 45 of AIDS-related pneumonia.

2000: The U.S. Supreme Court stepped into the bitter overtime struggle for the White House, agreeing to consider George W. Bush’s appeal against the hand recounting of ballots in Florida.

2013: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly condemned the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran, calling it a “historic mistake” and saying he was not bound by the agreement.

2014: It was announced that a grand jury in St. Louis County, Missouri, had decided against indicting Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown; the decision enraged protesters who set fire to buildings and cars and looted businesses in the area where Brown had been fatally shot.