This Day in History: Sept. 22

June 26, 2012: This undated photo provided by Seth Kaller, Inc., shows a rare original copy of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which sold at a New York auction for more than $2 million. (AP/Seth Kaller, Inc.)

On this day, Sept. 22 ...

1862: President Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863.

Also on this day:

• 1776: During the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, is hanged as a spy by the British in New York.
• 1927: Gene Tunney successfully defends his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight in Chicago.
• 1949: The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.
• 1961: The Interstate Commerce Commission issues rules prohibiting racial discrimination on interstate buses.
• 1975: Sara Jane Moore attempts to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel but misses.
• 1980: The Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupts into full-scale war.
• 1985: Rock and country music artists participate in FarmAid, a concert staged in Champaign, Ill., to help the nation's farmers.

• 1994: "Friends" debuts on NBC.
• 2018: Paul Simon ends what is billed as his final concert tour in a park in Queens, New York, telling the hometown crowd that their cheers "mean more than you can know."

Billy Porter accepts the outstanding lead actor in a drama series award for "Pose" onstage during the 71st Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 22, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Getty)

• 2019: Billy Porter becomes the first openly gay actor to win an Emmy for lead actor in a drama series for "Pose."