Today in history

January 3

1521
Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

1793
Political and social reformer Lucretia Coffin Mott was born in Nantucket, MA.

1966
Samuel Leamon Younge Jr., a student civil rights activist, was fatally shot by a white gas station owner following an argument over segregated restrooms, in Tuskeegee, Ala.

1967
Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys was indicted for draft evasion.
Claiming conscientious objector status, he eventually won his battle against these charges.

1977
President Carter pardoned nearly 10,000 Vietnam war draft resisters.

2003
Brazil’s new leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, suspended purchase of 12 new fighter planes saying money could be better used to relieve hunger.