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February |
| 1-Feb |
Four African American students sit in at Woolworth's, Greensboro, NC (1960) |
| 1-Feb |
Saigon's police chief, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, executed a Viet Cong suspect with a gunshot to the head. This became one of the most famous images of the war in Vietnam and had tremendous effect on international and American public opinion regarding the war. (1968) |
| 1-Feb |
7,000 march to protest KKK in Greensboro, North Carolina. (1980) |
| 1-Feb |
President George Bush & Russian President Boris Yeltsin declare an official end to Cold War (1992) |
| 1-Feb |
Two Native American activists, Eddie Hatcher & Tim Jacobs, occupy a newspaper office in Lumberton, North Carolina, to highlight racism issues. (1988) |
| 1-Feb |
Two-month campaign of Citizens Against War begins, Belgrade, Serbia. (1992) |
| 2-Feb |
Anthony Benezet refuses to pay taxes to support Revolutionary War. (1779) |
| 2-Feb |
The first of well over 400,000 Mexican-Americans, many US citizens living here as long as 40 years, are "repatriated" from the nation as Los Angeles Chicanos are deported to Mexico. (1931) |
| 2-Feb |
First world disarmament convention opens, Geneva, Switzerland. (1932) |
| 2-Feb |
First burning of Australian military draft papers, Sydney. (1966) |
| 2-Feb |
Soviet participation in the war in Afghanistan ended as Red Army troops withdrew from the capital city of Kabul. They left behind many of their arms for use by the Afghan government forces. (1989) |
| 2-Feb |
South African President deKlerk lifts ban on opposition groups; African National Congress (ANC) is now legal. (1990) |
| 3-Feb |
The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified and takes effect on March 30. It grants all citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color. (1870) |
| 3-Feb |
Abigail Ashbrook of New Jersey refuses to pay taxes because she is denied the right to vote. (1893) |
| 3-Feb |
Mass arrest of children demonstrating for Civil Rights, Selma, AL. (1965) |
| 3-Feb |
More then 450,000 students, nearly half the citywide enrollment, boycott the New York City schools to protest segregation. (1964) |
| 3-Feb |
Four decades of armed conflict in Vietnam officially ended when a cease-fire agreement signed in Paris the previous month came into effect. Vietnam had endured almost uninterrupted hostility since 1945, when a war for independence from France was launched. A civil war between northern and southern regions of the country began after the country was divided by the Geneva Convention in 1954, with American military "advisors" arriving in 1955. Between 1969 and 1972, 107,504 Saigon government troops, approximately 400,000 North Vietnamese (DRV/NLF) soldiers and 15,315 American troops, died in combat. The number of civilian deaths is unknown, although it has been estimated that 150,000 civilians died in South Vietnam for each year of American President Nixon's presidency. (1973) |
| 3-Feb |
President Nixon signs Endangered Species Act. (1973) |
| 3-Feb |
President Bill Clinton lifted the trade embargo against Vietnam, which had been in place since the Vietnam war. (1994) |
| 3-Feb |
Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker, the first female inmate to be put to death by the state in 135 years. (1998) |
| 4-Feb |
The American Colonization Society founds the African state of Liberia in West Africa as a home for freed U.S. slaves. (1822) |
| 4-Feb |
Rosa Parks is born (1913) |
| 4-Feb |
Colombian government recognizes native rights to half its forest, 69,000 square miles in the Amazon Basin, home to 55,000 indigenous tribal peoples. (1990) |
| 4-Feb |
Start of week of marches for peace by thousands, Grozny, Chechnya. (1996) |
| 5-Feb |
Roger Williams, defender of religious liberty and founder of Rhode Island, arrived in Boston. (1631) |
| 5-Feb |
New Harmony Community of Equality founded in Indiana. (1826) |
| 5-Feb |
Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke refuses to allow the US to use bases to monitor an MX missile test. (1985) |
| 5-Feb |
49 German troops conscientiously object to going to Turkey for Gulf War. (1991) |
| 6-Feb |
Women over 30 allowed to vote in England. (1918) |
| 6-Feb |
US government requires the 110,000 Japanese-Americans imprisoned in internment camps to answer loyalty surveys. (1943) |
| 6-Feb |
The civil rights jail-in movement begins when students in Rock Hill, South Carolina are arrested & demand jail time rather than fines. (1961) |
| 6-Feb |
Peace camp evicted by army at CIA base, Molesworth, England. (1985) |
| 6-Feb |
Last person shot to death crossing the Berlin Wall, Chris Gueffroy. (1989) |
| 7-Feb |
Lord Byron, in his first speech before the House of Lords, denounces a death penalty measure for rebellious laborers.(1812) |
| 7-Feb |
"Negro History Week" was observed for the first time. Today it has been lengthened, and is known as African-American history month. (1926) |
| 7-Feb |
Autherine Lucy, the first black person admitted to the University of Alabama, was expelled after she accused school officials of conspiring in the riots that accompanied her court-ordered enrollment. (1956) |
| 7-Feb |
Swiss women get the vote. (1971) |
| 8-Feb |
Congress passed the Dawes Severalty Act, designed to end tribal life, which divided tribal lands into small plots for distribution to tribal members. American citizenship was granted to Native Americans who accepted their land and lived apart from the tribe. Congressed hoped that this would encourage Native Americans to "adopt the habits of civilized life." (1887) |
| 8-Feb |
Longest Walk begins - Native American march from San Francisco to Washington, DC (1978) |
| 8-Feb |
Four Black students killed, 50 wounded by police in Orangeburg, SC (1968) |
| 9-Feb |
Capt. Paul Cuffee and six other African-American residents of Massachussetts petition the state legislature for the right to vote; the court awards them equal rights. (1780) |
| 9-Feb |
The "GI Joe" action doll debuts. (1964) |
| 10-Feb |
Voice of Nuclear Disarmament pirate radio station begins operation off shore. (1961) |
| 11-Feb |
Quakers and Mennonites petition Congress for Emancipation of slaves (1790) |
| 11-Feb |
Vermont is the first state to abolish slavery. (1777) |
| 11-Feb |
Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control. (1911) |
| 11-Feb |
Treaty on non-militarization of sea bed signed, London, Moscow & Washington. (1971) |
| 11-Feb |
Nelson Mandela freed after 27 years in a South African prison (1990) |
| 12-Feb |
NAACP founded. (1909) |
| 12-Feb |
First peacetime draft card burning. (1947) |
| 12-Feb |
The International Olympic Committee rejected a U.S. proposal to postpone or cancel the 1980 Summer Games or move the site from Moscow as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. (1980) |
| 12-Feb |
About 5,000 demonstrators march on Atlanta's State Capitol to protest the Confederate symbol on the Georgia state flag. (1993) |
| 13-Feb |
The English Parliament enacted into law a Bill of Rights. (1689) |
| 13-Feb |
Carrying huge photos of Napalmed Vietnamese children, 2,500 members of the group Women Strike for Peace storm the Pentagon, demanding to see "the generals who send our sons to Vietnam." (1967) |
| 13-Feb |
Five soldiers arrested at pray-in for peace, Fort Jackson, South Carolina. (1968) |
| 13-Feb |
US bombs an Iraqi air raid shelter, killing 334. (1991) |
| 14-Feb |
Frederick Douglass, abolitionist leader, born into slavery. (1817) |
| 14-Feb |
New Jersey becomes the first state to legalize unions. (1883) |
| 14-Feb |
Founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), in Atlanta. (1957) |
| 15-Feb |
New Jersey becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery. (1804) |
| 15-Feb |
Susan B. Anthony born (1820) |
| 16-Feb |
A pastoral letter was read in the majority of Norwegian pulpits telling the fascist regime to "end all which conflicts with God's holy arrangements regarding truth, justice, freedom of conscience and goodness.." (1941) |
| 17-Feb |
Miguel de Cueno, a member of Columbus' second expedition, ships 550 captured Carib Indians to be slaves in Europe. 200 die at sea. (1495) |
| 17-Feb |
The US Supreme Court issued its "one man, one vote" decision. (1964) |
| 17-Feb |
First meeting of Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). (1958) |
| 18-Feb |
Pennsylvania Quakers make first formal protest against slavery (1688) |
| 18-Feb |
Nonviolent resistance to Austrian oppression results in separate constitution, Hungary. (1867) |
| 18-Feb |
Bertrand Russell, 89, leads march of 20,000 & sit-down of 5,000 in an anti-nuke rally outside U.K. Defense Ministry and is jailed for 7 days. (1961) |
| 18-Feb |
Five of the "Chicago Seven" (Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, and Jerry Rubin) are found guilty of crossing state lines to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention, but are found not guilty of conspiracy. (1970) |
| 19-Feb |
Tsar Alexander II of Russia issued his decree abolishing Serfdom. (1862) |
| 19-Feb |
First Pan-African Congress organized by W.E.B. DuBois, Paris, France (1919) |
| 19-Feb |
Norwegian teachers begin successful nonviolent protest against Nazification of schools (1942) |
| 19-Feb |
Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, ordered that all Japanese Americans (Nisei) be evacuated from the West Coast and be forced to live in concentration camps. (1942) |
| 19-Feb |
40,000 demonstrate against nuclear power, Brokdorf, West Germany. (1977) |
| 19-Feb |
The U.S. Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide, 37 years after the pact had first been submitted for ratification. (1986) |
| 19-Feb |
6,000 rally against Gulf War, Brisbane, Australia. (1991) |
| 19-Feb |
A Superior Court judge ruled that a gay group has the right to march in South Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. (1993) |
| 20-Feb |
10 sleeping Indians scalped by soldiers in what will be New Hampshire for scalp bounty. First recorded instance of scalping. (1725) |
| 20-Feb |
Dueling is outlawed in the District of Columbia. (1839) |
| 20-Feb |
Utopian Society in Los Angeles starts chain-letter campaign informing US citizens that "Profit is the root of all evil." (1934) |
| 20-Feb |
US rejects Soviet proposal to ban nuclear weapons tests & deployment. (1956) |
| 20-Feb |
In Greenwood, MS, SNCC Voter Registration headquarters & 4 Negro businesses burned. (1963) |
| 20-Feb |
Faroes Islands' Parliament declares country a nuclear-free zone. (1984) |
| 20-Feb |
Nearly 100,000 march in Paris against new anti-immigration bill sponsored by the far right. (1997) |
| 21-Feb |
Beginning of the trial of Fr. Philip Berrigan & six other activists (The "Harrisburg Seven") in Harrisburg, PA for an alleged plot to kidnap Henry Kissinger. Proceedings later end in a mistrial. (1972) |
| 21-Feb |
Vaclav Havel is jailed for antigovernment demonstrations. Later becomes be president of the Czech Republic. (1989) |
| 22-Feb |
Tennessee abolished slavery. (1865) |
| 22-Feb |
Sophie Scholl, a 22-year-old "White Rose" activist at Munich University, is executed after being convicted of urging students to rise up & overthrow the Nazi government. (1943) |
| 22-Feb |
U.S. President Richard Nixon met with Chinese Premier Mao Tse-tung in Peking. This bold foreign policy coup ended more that two decades of Sino-American hostility. (1972) |
| 23-Feb |
Patrick Henry addresses a Virginia convention, saying "Give me liberty, or give me death." (1775) |
| 23-Feb |
American Anti-Vivisection Society formed in Pennsylvania. (1883) |
| 23-Feb |
Dockers strike against Nazi persecution of Jews, Amsterdam. (1941) |
| 23-Feb |
Wales becomes nuclear-free zone. (1982) |
| 24-Feb |
District 1199 Health Care Workers becomes first U.S. labor union to oppose war in Vietnam. (1965) |
| 24-Feb |
A congressional commission release a report condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, calling it a "grave injustice." (1983) |
| 25-Feb |
Samuel Colt receives a patent for his revolver. (1836) |
| 25-Feb |
Some released conscientious objectors return government pay for non-combatant services. (1919) |
| 25-Feb |
British volunteers organize nonviolent "Peace Army" to attempt to intervene in fighting in China. (1932) |
| 25-Feb |
US Supreme Court voids Michigan law banning sale of books that might corrupt youth. (1957) |
| 26-Feb |
Jimmie Lee Jackson was beaten and shot by state troopers as he tried to protect his grandfather and mother from a trooper attack on civil rights marchers, in Marion, Ala. (1965) |
| 26-Feb |
West Virginia coal slag heap, which had doubled as a dam, suddenly collapses, flooding the 17-mile ling Buffalo Creek Valley. 118 die, 14 mining camps leveled, & 5,000 people left homeless. (1972) |
| 26-Feb |
Corazon Aquino assumes power after non-violent revolt deposes Marcos, Philippines (1986) |
| 26-Feb |
4,000 people picket outside NY's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel as President Lyndon Johnson receives the National Freedom Award. (1966) |
| 26-Feb |
International weapons inspection team, including Canadian MP Libby Davies, is not allowed to determine the presence of weapons of mass destruction at the Bangor, WA, nuclear submarine base. (1998) |
| 27-Feb |
Birthday of consumer activist Ralph Nader. (1927) |
| 27-Feb |
Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes. (1939) |
| 27-Feb |
Wharlest Jackson, the treasurer of the NAACP chapter in Natchez, Miss., was one of many blacks who received threatening Klan notices at his job. After Jackson was promoted to a position previously reserved for whites, a bomb was planted in his car. It exploded minutes after he left work one day, killing him instantly. (1967) |
| 27-Feb |
American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children (1973) |
| 28-Feb |
The Republican Party was organized. Their main platform was preventing an end to the expansion of slavery. (1854) |
| 28-Feb |
U.S. Government seizes Black Hills from Lakota Sioux in violation of treaty. (1877) |
| 28-Feb |
1,000 rally against war, Hyde Park, London. (1937) |
| 28-Feb |
Peace Memorial Day, also called 228 Memorial Day, in Taiwan, commemorating a 1947 incident of government oppression. (1947) |
| 28-Feb |
England: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) founded in London. (1958) |
| 28-Feb |
Nevada-Semipalatnisk Movement to Stop All Nuclear Testing founded in USSR. (1989) |
| 28-Feb |
NATO was involved in actual combat for the first timein its 45-year history when four U.S. fighter planes operating under NATO auspices shot down four Serb planes that'd violated the U.N. no-fly zone in central Bosnia. (1994) |
| 28-Feb |
The Brady Gun Law goes into effect. (1994) |
| 28-Feb |
Bowing to international pressure, Jorg Haider resigned as leader of Austria's anti-immigrant Freedom Party. Haider had come under scrutiny for his reported admiration of Hitler when his party was included in a government coalition. (2000) |
| 29-Feb |
The National Advisory Commission of Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission) warned that racism was causing America to move "toward two societies, one black, one white - separate but unequal" (1968) |
| 29-Feb |
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other religious leaders arrested near Parliament with a petition to end apartheid (1988) |
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