Moments in time: Sesame Street debuts in 1969

The History Channel

On Nov. 14, 1851, Herman Melville publishes “Moby-Dick.” Initially the book about Captain Ahab and his quest to catch a giant white whale was a flop, but it would eventually become a staple of high-school reading lists across the U.S.

On Nov. 12, 1892, William “Pudge” Heffelfinger becomes the first professional football player when Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Athletic Association pays him $500 to play as a ringer in a game. Before then, players had traded their services for expense money or trinkets, not cash.

On Nov. 8, 1900, Margaret Mitchell, author of "Gone with the Wind" (1936), is born in Atlanta. Mitchell quit working as a journalist after an ankle injury limited her mobility, and she devoted herself to her novel about the South during and after the Civil War. The book sold 1 million copies in its first six months.

On Nov. 9, 1938, in an event that would foreshadow the Holocaust, German Nazis launch a campaign of terror against Jewish people and their homes and businesses. "Kristallnacht" or "Night of Broken Glass", left some 100 Jews dead and 7,500 Jewish businesses damaged.

On Nov. 10, 1969, "Sesame Street", a pioneering TV show that would teach generations of young children the alphabet and how to count, makes its broadcast debut, on PBS.

On Nov. 11, 1978, a stuntman on the Georgia set of "The Dukes of Hazzard" launches the show's iconic 1969 Dodge Charger, nicknamed the General Lee, off a 16-foot-high dirt ramp and over a police car. Several hundred Chargers were used during the show's six-year run due to damage from jumps and other stunts.

On Nov. 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. The simple V-shaped black-granite wall is inscribed with the names of the 57,939 Americans who died in the conflict, arranged in order of death, not rank.