Today in history

February 4

1822
The American Colonization Society founded the African state of Liberia in West Africa as a home for freed U.S. slaves.

American Colonization Society ship leaving New York City bound for Liberia

1913
Birth of civil rights leader Rosa Parks

1948
Burma, now known as Myanmar, becomes an independent sovereign nation, ending more than six decades of British rule.

1965
Free Speech Movement holds its first legal rally on Sproul Plaza, University of California at Berkeley.

1990
The Colombian government recognized native rights to half of its 69,000 square miles of forest in the Amazon River basin, home to 55,000 indigenous tribal people.

indigenous U’wa people in Columbia

1999
NYC police kill innocent Amnadou Diallo; 15 days of civil disobedience ensue

2004
The Massachusetts Supreme Court declared that gays were entitled to nothing less than marriage, and that Vermont-style civil unions would not suffice.

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