On Oct. 2, 1800, Nat Turner, the slave who would be hanged for leading a violent slave rebellion, was born in Southampton County, Va.
In 1835 the Texas revolution began as American settlers defeated a Mexican cavalry unit near the Guadalupe River.
In 1869 Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi was born in Porbandar.
In 1944 Nazi troops crushed the two-month Warsaw uprising, killing 250,000 people.
In 1958 the French colony of Guinea in Western Africa proclaimed independence.
In 1967 Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first black associate justice on the Supreme Court.
In 1984 Richard Miller became the first FBI agent charged with espionage; he served 9 years in prison.
In 1986 the Senate joined the House in voting to override President Ronald Reagan’s veto of economic sanctions against South Africa.
In 1990 the Senate confirmed Judge David Souter to the Supreme Court.
In 1994 Harriet Nelson, longtime star of the sitcom ”Ozzie & Harriet,” died at 85 in Laguna Beach, Calif.
In 1998 Gene Autry, Hollywood’s original singing cowboy, died at 91 in North Hollywood, Calif.
In 1999 the Brooklyn Museum of Art opened its “Sensation” exhibit, which included a portrait of the Virgin Mary decorated with elephant dung.
In 2002 Enron executive Andrew Fastow was charged with inflating the energy giant’s profits and siphoning off millions for himself.
In 2003 South African-born author J.M. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize in literature.
In 2005 playwright August Wilson died at 60 in Seattle. Also, actor-comedian Nipsey Russell died at 80 in New York.
