Communist Party

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 11/25 (Iran-Contra Affair)

President Ronald Reagan addressing the nation from The White House Oval Office in 1986 (© Diana Walker/Liaison Agency/Getty Images)(1986) Reagan confirms secret arms sale proceeds funded Contras
The US president reveals that up to $30 million from an Iran weapons deal went to rebel forces in Nicaragua, despite Congress’ ban on military aid to the group. President Reagan says he holds two men responsible — John Poindexter and Oliver North — and appoints a commission to investigate further.
The Iran–Contra affair, also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped to fund the Contras in Nicaragua while at the same time negotiating the release of several U.S. hostages. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress.
Start date: Aug 20, 1985
End date: Mar 04, 1987

President Ronald Reagan with Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan discussing the President's remarks on the Iran-Contra affair, Oval Office
President Ronald Reagan with Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan discussing the President’s remarks on the Iran-Contra affair, Oval Office
wiki/Iran–Contra_affair
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(1986) Reagan confirms secret arms sale proceeds funded Contras.
Also on this day,

1783 | Last Redcoats leave NY as the British troops depart New York
Three months after the Revolutionary War ended, the last contingent of British troops sail away from New York to the jeers and cheers of local residents. General George Washington leads a triumphant march as he retakes the city that the British had occupied since 1776.
1947 | Studio executives agree to blacklist the ‘Hollywood 10’
Hollywood executives fire 10 writers and directors a day after they were held in contempt for refusing to testify before Congress about their alleged involvement with the Communist Party. The ‘Hollywood 10 are just the first of many in the film industry who will be blacklisted through the rest of the 1940s and ’50s.
1963 | John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery
President Kennedy is laid to rest three days after his assassination in Dallas. Thousands line the streets of Washington, DC, to watch Kennedy’s casket pass by on a horse-drawn caisson. During the solemn procession, Kennedy’s 3-year-old son John Jr. steps forward and salutes his father a final time.

Today in History 11/25/17

John F. Kennedy, Jr., salutes his father's casket during the funeral procession of President John F. Kennedy in Washington, DC, in 1963 (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1963) John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery
President Kennedy is laid to rest three days after his assassination in Dallas. Thousands line the streets of Washington, DC, to watch Kennedy's casket pass by on a horse-drawn caisson. During the solemn procession, Kennedy's 3-year-old son John Jr. steps forward and salutes his father a final time.

The state funeral of John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, took place in Washington, D.C., during the three days that followed his assassination on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.

The body of President Kennedy was brought back to Washington soon after his death and was placed in the East Room of the White House for 24 hours. On the Sunday after the assassination, his flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn caisson to the U.S. Capitol to lie in state. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket.

Representatives from over 90 countries attended the state funeral on Monday, November 25. After the Requiem Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral, the late president was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.


JFK's family leaves Capitol after his funeral, 1963
Robert Kennedy and Patricia Kennedy Lawford following Jacqueline Kennedy as she leaves the United States Capitol with John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Caroline Kennedy, after viewing John F. Kennedy lying in state.

wiki/State_funeral_of_John_F._Kennedy
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