On #ThisDayInHistory in 1939, #RussellMeans (#WaŋblíOhítika) was born on the #PineRidge reservation. An #OglalaLakota activist and prominent member of the #AmericanIndianMovement, he participated in #AIM actions like the occupations of #Alcatraz, #MountEushmore, and #WoundedKnee.
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#MartinLuther was born in 1483 on #ThisDayInHistory in Eisleben, Germany. Originally an Augustinian monk & priest, Luther was central to the #ProtestantReformation, and his translation of the Bible into was a revolutionary act because it encouraged people to think for themselves.
#HenryMortonStanley found, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1871, fellow explorer #DavidLivingstone at Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania. Both men spent years hunting for the sources of the #Nile River, and both contributed substantially to the violent 19th century European conquest of #Africa.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1975, the #EdmundFitzgerald was lost with all hands during a #LakeSuperior storm. At 13632 tons and 729 feet in length, she remains the largest vessel to sink on the #GreatLakes. Here is the #GordonLightfoot song about her wreck:
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1867, the last #Tokugawa #shōgun resigned. The #Bakufu system of military governance had dominated #Japan since 1185, with the imperial house largely powerless. The #Shogunate's end opened the way to the #MeijiRestoration and Japan's #DefensiveDevelopment.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1993, #Croat #WarCriminals destroyed the #StariMost bridge in #Bosnia during the civil war there. The #Ottoman bridge was built in 1557, commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent, and was a Mostar landmark. It was painstakingly rebuilt and reopened in 2004.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 2005, #AlQaeda in Iraq, #Zarqawi's splinter in the #Salafi #jihadist movement, set off "suicide" bombs in three #Amman hotels. 57 were killed and 115 injured. The main target of #Islamist terror is other Muslims; the #WarOnTerror is an imperialist scam.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 2004, the first #Firefox browser was released. A direct descendant of pioneering NCSA #Mosaic browser (my first) through #Netscape Navigator, the code of which was released to the #FreeSoftware/#OpenSource community to become Firefox parent #Mozilla suite.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1934, the great scientist and humanist #CarlSagan was born. His optimism about humanity and its future among the stars has often comforted me, given I live in an insane fascist state filled with #science-denying loons and #environment-destroying oligarchs.
A charismatic movement of #OrthodoxJews set out for Palestine in 1697 under #JudahHeHasid. They were poor but pious. On #ThisDayInHistory in 1720, #HeHasid's synagogue was burnt due to debts and Ashkenazim run out of #Jerusalem. Many resettled in other holy cities in #Palestine.
On #18Brumaire Year VIII, aka #ThisDayInHistory in 1799, #NapoléonBonaparte overthrew the #Directory and became #FirstConsul of a new order. He remained thus until he formed the First French Empire (May 1804). The #Corsican general either ended or saved the #FrenchRevolution.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1791, the #SocietyOfUnitedIrishmen was founded in #Dublin. An early example of non-sectarian Irish nationalism, it joined Protestants and Catholics in a single movement for independence in a republic. It was ruthlessly suppressed after UK annexed Ireland.
In 1965 on #ThisDayInHistory, #RogerAllenLaPorte became the third American to #SelfImmolate over the #VietnamWar, outside the UN. A part of the #CatholicWorker Movement and a strong #pacifist, he considered his death to be a religious act in protest of an immoral imperialist war.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 2014, a #CatalanIndependence referendum was held in #Catalonia. With about a 40% turnout, voters overwhelmingly (80.8%) chose independence from #Spain. If countries must exist at all, they should not hold a people captive against their expressed will.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1970, #SCOTUS declined to take up #MassachusettsVLaird, on a state law granting exemption from #conscription for any #UndeclaredWar. #VietnamWar, like every one since WWII, was not declared. We still have no clear ruling on their #constitutionality.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1989, the #BerlinWall came down. As part of the 1989 revolutions, DDR officials announced the gates would soon open. Citizens flooded the area instantly, and guards let them through. By that evening, people were arriving with sledgehammers to take it down.
#ThisDayInHistory in 1938 saw the #Kristallnacht #antisemitic #pogrom in Germany. 1400 synagogues were destroyed, #Torah scrolls were desecrated, hundreds were killed, thousands assaulted. 26000 #Jews went to #ConcentrationCamps and the rest had to pay "reparations" to Germany.