Sep. 30, 1864: In a series of battles near Richmond, Virginia, black troops capture Confederate entrenchments at New Market Heights, make a gallant but unsuccessful assault on Fort Gilmer, and help repulse counterattacks on Fort Harrison. These battles garner Congressional Medals of Honor for 13 black soldiers. During the Civil War, 185,000 blacks serve in the Union Army, fighting in 449 battles. One of every four Union sailors is black. Almost 38,000 black soldiers die. Sep. 30, 1976: Congress passes Hyde amendment, which prevents Medicaid reimbursements for abortions. Oct. 1, 1800: France acquires Louisiana from Spain by secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, not known to US until May 1801. Oct. 1, 1949: Five hundred thousand US steel workers strike. Oct. 2, 1656: Connecticut passes law to find and banish Quakers. Oct. 2, 1970: Environmental Protection Agency established by...wait for it...Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon. Oct. 3, 1622: Public use of tobacco forbidden by Massachusetts Bay General Court. Oct. 3, 1945: Seven-state Greyhound bus strike. Dogs everywhere stage a no-sit-down strike in solidarity. Oct. 4, 1971: South Vietnamese President Thieu, running unopposed, declares his winning margin an "achievement for democracy." Oct. 5, 1909: Thirty-two die in Extension Mine, Ladysmith, British Columbia. Oct. 5, 1987: US Supreme Court refuses to hear Leonard Peltier appeal. Oct. 6, 1921: Birth of Joseph Lowery, Huntsville, Alabama. Early civil rights activist, a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Activism includes a 2,700-mile pilgrimage to strengthen Voting Rights Act, protesting toxic waste sites in African-American communities, and actions against US corporations doing business in South Africa. Oct. 6, 1986: Seventeen hundred female flight attendants win 18-year lawsuit ($37 million in damages) against United Airlines, which had fired them for getting married. Oct. 7, 1984: Twenty thousand march against Marcos dictatorship, Manila, Philippines. Oct. 8, 1662: Two "licensers" of printing presses, who must approve everything to be printed, appointed by Massachusetts Bay General Court. Oct. 8, 1962: North Korea reports 100% election turnout. Astonishingly, all 100% are for Workers' Party. The people, united, will never be arrested. Oct. 9, 1635: Roger Williams, a member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and outspoken critic of ill-treatment of Native Americans, is banished from Massachusetts for "religious heresy." Oct. 9, 1911: Revolution led by Sun Yat Sen against monarchy and for democracy in China. Oct. 10, 1609: Birth of Diggers founder Gerrard Winstanley, England. Oct. 10, 1912: IWW strike in Little Falls, New York. Oct. 11, 1945: Chinese civil war begins, Chiang Kai-Shek vs. Mao. Oct. 11, 1972: Prison uprising at Washington DC jail. Oct. 12, 1976: Deaths of three elderly people lead, two months later, to halt in swine flu vaccination program. Oct. 12, 1992: Continental Congress of Indigenous Peoples meets in Managua, Nicaragua. Oct. 13, 1925: Birth of radical comedian and social rebel Lenny Bruce. "If you can't say FUCK you can't say FUCK THE GOVERNMENT." Oct. 13, 1954: American poet Allen Ginsberg reads "Howl" publicly for the first time.