Alabama

Today in History 12/01 (Rosa Parks)

Mugshot of Rosa Parks in 1955 (© Universal History Archive/Getty images)(1955) Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man
Cops arrest the African-American seamstress for violating Montgomery, Alabama’s racial segregation laws that require black patrons to sit in the back of a bus and give up their seats to whites. The incident leads to a bus boycott, spearheaded by a young minister, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The United States Congress has called her “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”.
Lived: Feb 04, 1913 – Oct 24, 2005 (age 92)
Height: 5′ 3″
Spouse: Raymond Parks (m. 1932 – 1977)
Education: Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes · Highlander Folk School
Parents: Leona McCauley (Mother) · James McCauley (Father)
Siblings: Sylvester McCauley (Brother)
Highlights
  • 1932: In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery.

  • 1943: Initially, she did not notice that the bus driver was the same man, James F. Blake, who had left her in the rain in 1943.

  • 1955: On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order to give up her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled.

  • 1992: In 1992, Parks published Rosa Parks: My Story, an autobiography aimed at younger readers, which recounts her life leading to her decision to keep her seat on the bus.

  • 2005: The lawsuit was settled on April 15, 2005 (six months and nine days before Parks’ death); OutKast, their producer and record labels paid Parks an undisclosed cash settlement.

  • 2005: Parks died of natural causes on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, in her apartment on the east side of Detroit.

Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King jr. (ca. 1955)
Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King jr. (ca. 1955) Mrs. Rosa Parks altered the negro progress in Montgomery, Alabama, 1955, by the bus boycott she began. National Archives record ID: 306-PSD-65-1882 (Box 93). Source: Ebony Magazine
wiki/Rosa_Parks
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(1955) Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man.
Also on this day,

1934 | ‘Great Purge’ begins with assassination of Party leader as Sergei Kirov murdered
Sergei Kirov is gunned down at Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad. Many suspect Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is behind the assassination, though a connection will not be proved. Kirov’s death, however, marks the beginning of Stalin’s ‘Great Purge,’ in which a million or more people will be executed.
1959 | Antarctica treaty turns Antarctica into a scientific preserve
Twelve countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a treaty that prohibits any military activity on Antarctica. The agreement stipulates that the continent will be used only for scientific research. It will be considered the first arms control agreement of the Cold War.
1990 | Chunnel breaks through as Workers drill breakthrough hole in Chunnel project
England is now connected to the European mainland via a tunnel that runs deep under the English Channel. When it opens in 1994, the Chunnel project will have taken 13,000 workers about six years to complete the 31-mile long tunnel that stretches from the English town of Folkestone to Coquelles in France.

Today in History 12/01/17

Flags of the original 12 signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty fly at McMurdo Station, Antarctica (© Rob Jones/National Science Foundation via Getty images)(1959) Treaty turns Antarctica into a scientific preserve
Twelve countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a treaty that prohibits any military activity on Antarctica. The agreement stipulates that the continent will be used only for scientific research. It will be considered the first arms control agreement of the Cold War.
The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and having 53 parties as of 2016, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters is located in Buenos Aires Argentina, since September 2004.
Antarctic Treaty parties
[ORANGE] Parties with consulting status making a claim to Antarctic territory [YELLOW] Parties with consulting status reserving the right to make a territorial claim [BLUE] Other parties with consulting status [GREEN] Parties without consulting status [RED] Non-party UN member states and observers

wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System
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Today in History 09/15 (Birmingham Church Bombing)

A civil defense worker and firemen walk through debris from an expolsion which struck the 16th street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on Sept 15, 1963 (© AP)(1963) Four young girls killed in Birmingham church bombing
Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair, all under 15, are killed when a KKK bomb explodes at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Twenty-two others are injured in the deadliest act of racist violence in the US civil rights era.
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was an act of white supremacist terrorism which occurred at the African American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963, when four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted at least 15 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church.
Date: Sep 15, 1963
Fatalities: 4
Location: Birmingham
Target: 16th Street Baptist Church
Attack type: Church bombing, terrorism, hate crime, mass murder
Deaths: 4

The four girls killed during the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
The four girls killed during the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Clockwise from top left: Addie Mae Collins (aged 14), Cynthia Wesley (aged 14), Carole Robertson (aged 14) and Denise McNair (aged 11)
wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing
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(1963) Four young girls killed in Birmingham church bombing.
Also on this day,

1821 | Act of Independence of Central America is enacted
The Province of Guatemala proclaims the independence of Central America from the Spanish Empire and invites other provinces to meet and determine a path forward. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua will all briefly become part of the Mexican Empire before forming the Federal Republic of Central America.
1950 | General MacArthur lands US Marines at Inchon, Korea
General Douglas MacArthur commands a joint US-United Nations force in a bold invasion of South Korea 25 miles from communist-held Seoul. The amphibious landing of some 50,000 troops 100 miles south of the 38th parallel will end North Korea’s string of victories and cut their forces in two.
1978 | Boxer Muhammad Ali is a triple threat as he wins record 3rd title
Fighting against an opponent 11 years his junior at the Superdome in New Orleans, boxer Muhammad Ali, 36, scores a unanimous win after 15 rounds against Leon Spinks to take the world heavyweight boxing title. Ali becomes the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship belt three times.

Today in History 09/15/17

General Douglas MacArthur is shown after he stepped ashore at Inchon, South Korea, Sept 17, 1950 (© Frank Noel/AP)(1950) General MacArthur lands US Marines at Inchon, Korea
General Douglas MacArthur commands a joint US-United Nations force in a bold invasion of South Korea 25 miles from communist-held Seoul. The amphibious landing of some 50,000 troops 100 miles south of the 38th parallel will end North Korea's string of victories and cut their forces in two.
The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations. The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital of Seoul two weeks later. The code name for the operation was Operation Chromite.
Start date: Sep 10, 1950
End date: Sep 19, 1950
Incheon SK
Incheon, South Korea, in pink coloring.
Inchon landing map
The landing at Incheon.

wiki/Battle_of_Inchon
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