On this day in 1790, the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitioned U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery.
On this day in 1916, Emma Goldman was arrested for lecturing on birth control.
On this day in 1938, BBC Television produced the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term "robot".