Today in History: November 15

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On this day in Bahamian history, Claudius Roland Walker, the man who the school C. R. Walker is named after, died at the age of 74.

Walker was an educator, architect, social and labor rights activist. Described as an extraordinarily brilliant man, walker was born and lived most of his life in Bain Town.

Aside from his professional and academic accomplishments, Dr. Walker was also a builder and constructed the Reinhard Hotel at the corner of Blue Hill Road and Tin Shop Corner.

It was to accommodate black visitors at the time who were not allowed to stay in the established hotels because of race.

In the aftermath of the Burma Road Riot on June 1, 1942, Dr. Walker was chosen by The Bahamas Federation of Labour to be its spokesman to address the Duke of Windsor’s Committee on behalf of the Bahamian workers.

Also in 1904, American inventor King Camp Gillette was granted a United States patent for the first razor with disposable blades.

1988 saw Palestinian statehood proclaimed by Yasser Arafat.

In a meeting with the Palestine National Council, at the urging of the PLO Chairman, issued a declaration of independence for a State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

And finally in 2001, Microsoft released the now popular Xbox video game console system. The brand was first introduced in the United States with the launch of the original Xbox console.

The original device was the first video game console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996.

It reached over 24 million units sold by May 2006.