Today in History: September 24, Protesting NFL players take a knee

Today is Thursday, Sept. 24, the 267th day of 2026. There are 98 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 24, 2017, more than 200 NFL players kneeled or sat during the national anthem after President Donald Trump criticized the players’ protests in a speech and a series of tweets.

Also on this date:

In 1789, President George Washington signed a Judiciary Act establishing America’s federal court system and creating the post of attorney general.

In 1869, thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic known as “Black Friday” after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market.

In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Devil’s Tower in Wyoming as the first U.S. national monument.

In 1957, the Los Angeles-bound Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0.

In 1960, the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Virginia.

In 1963, the U.S. Senate ratified a treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union limiting nuclear testing.

In 1968, the TV news magazine “60 Minutes” premiered on CBS.

In 1969, the trial of the Chicago Eight, later the Chicago Seven, began. (Five were later convicted of crossing state lines to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic convention, but the convictions were ultimately overturned.)

In 1988, Jackie Joyner-Kersey won gold and set a world record in the women’s heptathlon at the Summer Olympics in Seoul.

In 2013, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked southwest Pakistan, killing at least 376 people.

In 2015, a stampede and crush of Muslim pilgrims occurred in the holy city of Mina, Saudi Arabia. While the official Saudi death toll stood at 769, The Associated Press estimated that more than 2,400 people were killed.

In 2022, Russian forces launched new strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kremlin-orchestrated votes took place in occupied regions of Ukraine to create a pretext for their annexation by Moscow.

In 2023, NASA’s first asteroid samples fetched from deep space were parachuted in a capsule into the Utah desert to cap a seven-year journey by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft. In a flyby of Earth, the spacecraft released the capsule from 63,000 miles out and it landed four hours later as the mother ship set off after another asteroid.

In 2025, a man with a rifle opened fire from a nearby roof onto a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement complex in Dallas, killing one detainee and wounding two others in a transport van before taking his own life.

Today’s Birthdays: Football Hall of Famer Joe Greene is 80. Actor Gordon Clapp is 78. Actor Harriet Walter is 76. Filmmaker Brad Bird is 69. Actor Kevin Sorbo is 68. Actor-screenwriter Nia Vardalos is 64. Celebrity chef Robert Irvine is 61. Actor Jackie Sandler is 52. Actor Ian Bohen is 50. TV personality Ross Matthews is 47. Olympic gold medal gymnast Paul Hamm is 44. Actor Spencer Treat Clark is 39. Actor Grey Damon is 39. Actor Ben Platt is 33. Actor Joe Locke is 23.