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This Week in Princeton History for November 8-14


In this week’s installment of our recurring series, an alum resigns the U.S. Senate in anticipation of war, two undergraduates chase down a criminal suspect, and more.

November 9, 1903—Controversy has erupted locally over the town’s first Black postman, A. B. Davis, who secured his appointment in competition with several white applicants. Kansas’s Wichita Searchlight will later report on the issue.

November 10, 1860—James Chesnut, Jr., Class of 1835, is the first senator to resign his seat to declare his support for the Confederacy.

Senator James Chesnut, Jr. of South Carolina. Photo courtesy the National Archives and Records Administration.

November 11, 1997—Mike Himelfarb ’98 and Tim Maly ’99 chase down and tackle a man on the west side of Dod Hall after he exposes himself to a female student. The man will later be charged with lewdness.

November 13, 1953—Princeton and Yale debate whether the Kinsey Report “Is a Compliment to the American Woman.”

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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