Today is Friday, Oct. 16, the 290th day of 2020.
On Oct. 16, 1962, the Cuban missile crisis began as President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba.
In 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a group of 21 men in a raid on Harpers Ferry in western Virginia.
In 1901, Booker T. Washington dined at the White House as the guest of President Theodore Roosevelt, whose invitation to the Black educator sparked controversy.
In 1995, a vast throng of Black men gathered in Washington, D.C. for the āMillion Man Marchā led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.