Today in History ^12/01/16

Sergei Mironovich Kirov, born Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the party organization in Leningrad. On 1 December 1934, Kirov was shot and killed by a gunman at his offices in the Smolny Institute. Some historians place the blame for his assassination at the hands of Joseph Stalin and believe the NKVD organized his execution, but conclusive evidence for this claim remains lacking. Kirov’s death served as one of the pretexts for Stalin’s escalation of repression against dissident elements of the Party, and disarming of the Party (every Party member was issued with a revolver up to that time, when Stalin had them all taken away), culminating in the Great Purge of the late 1930s in which many of the Old Bolsheviks were arrested, expelled from the party, and executed. Complicity in Kirov’s assassination was a common charge to which the accused confessed in the show trials of the period.

— Source: wiki/Sergey_Kirov

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African American civil rights activist, whom the United States Congress called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in California and Missouri, and Ohio and Oregon.

Lived: Feb 04, 1913 – Oct 24, 2005 (age 92)
Height: 5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
Spouse: Raymond Parks (m. 1932 – 1977)
Parents: Leona McCauley (Mother) · James McCauley (Father)
Education: Highlander Folk School · Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes
TV shows: Touched by an Angel

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Highlights

• 1932: In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery.


• 1943: In December 1943, Parks became active in the Civil Rights Movement, joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, and was elected secretary.


• 1944: In 1944, in her capacity as secretary, she investigated the gang-rape of Recy Taylor, a black woman from Abbeville, Alabama.


• 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 white 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.

— Source: wiki/Rosa_Parks

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 have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004.

— Source: wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System

The Channel Tunnel is a 50.5-kilometre rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 m deep. At 37.9 kilometres, the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres and deeper at 240 metres below sea level. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour.

Opened: 1994

— Source: wiki/Channel_Tunnel