1. AP US History This Day in American History September 30 1868 – The first volume of Louisa May Alcott's beloved children's book Little Women is published on this day. The novel will become Alcott's first bestseller and a beloved children's classic.

2. AP US History This Day in American History September 30 1955 – At 5:45 PM on this day in 1955, 24-year-old actor James Dean is killed in Cholame, California, when the Porsche he is driving hits a Ford Tudor sedan at an intersection. The driver of the other car, 23-year-old California Polytechnic State University student Donald Turnupseed, was dazed but mostly uninjured; Dean’s passenger, German Porsche mechanic Rolf Wütherich was badly injured but survived.

3. AP US History This Day in American History September 30 1962 – In Oxford, Mississippi, James H. Meredith, an African American, is escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. Marshals, setting off a deadly riot. Two men were killed before the racial violence was quelled by more than 3,000 federal soldiers.

4. AP US History This Day in American History September 30 1994 - a 22-year-old Texas A&M University student and born-again Christian named Ronald Shamburger kills Lori Ann Baker, a young woman whom he had briefly dated. Shamburger broke into Baker's College Station home as he had on several prior occasions, and was surprised to find Baker home and asleep. He shot her when he heard her roommate enter the house, killing her instantly.