Tag Archives: peace history

March 25

1807
Britain abolished the slave trade.
1872
Toronto printers strike for the 9-hour day — the first major strike in Canada.
1894
Coxey’s “Army” heads peacefully from Ohio for Washington DC, demanding economic reform.
1911
Triangle shirtwaist fire kills 145 in New York City,stirring public outrage and spurs workplace safety reform.
1915
Sisterhood of International Peace founded in Australia.
1965
Their numbers having swelled to 25,000, the Selma-to-Montgomery marchers arrived at the Alabama state capitol. “Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. (Yes, sir) The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. We are on the move now.”

Martin Luther King Jr. and wife Coretta lead march into Montgomery, Alabama.
Read all of Dr. King’s Speech

Continue reading →

March 23

1918
The trial of 101 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World or IWW) began in Chicago, for opposition to World War I. In September 1917, 165 IWW members were arrested for conspiring to hinder the draft, encourage desertion, and intimidate others in connection with labor disputes. The trial lasted five months, the longest criminal trial in American history to date. The jury found them all guilty. The judge sentenced IWW leader “Big Bill” Haywood and 14 others to 20 years in prison; 33 were given 10 years, the rest shorter sentences. They were fined a total of $2,500,000 and the IWW was shattered as a result. Haywood jumped bail and fled to Russia, where he remained until his death 10 years later.

“Big Bill” Haywood on right

Continue reading →

March 22

1621
The Pilgrims and Massasoit Indians agree on a league of friendship.
1873
Slavery is abolished in Puerto Rico.

1974
The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by Congress. The amendment, giving women full equality under law, was never ratified by the required 3/4 of the 50 states.

Continue reading →

March 21
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, United Nations

1891
A Hatfield marries a McCoy, ends long feud in West Virginia.

1960
South African police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Sharpeville near Johannesburg. The demonstrators were protesting the establishment of apartheid pass laws which restricted movement of non-whites. In Sharpeville itself, 69 were killed and 176 wounded when police opened fire on the crowd, 63 of them shot in the back. In the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, protests broke out in Cape Town and elsewhere and there were further casualties. Overall, 13,000 were jailed.

Continue reading →

March 20

Vernal Equinox

1685
Johann Sebastian Bach born. (1685)
1815
Switzerland declares perpetual neutrality
1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s influential novel about slavery, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is first published.
1965
Selma to Montgomery march begins.
Continue reading →

March 19

1963
Pete Seeger‘s blacklisting from the television show “Hootenanny” was protested by 50 Greenwich Village folk artists. He had become a cultural hero through his outspoken commitment to the anti-war and civil rights movements. He was involved in several civil rights campaigns in 1962-1965, and helped popularize the anthemic “We Shall Overcome.”

Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s rendition of “We Shall Overcome”.

Continue reading →

March 18

1871
Tolpuddle Martyrs banished to Australia for union activities. (1843)
Beginning of Paris Commune.
1895
202 African Americans sailed from Savannah, GA to make a new home in Monrovia, Liberia, an African colony formed by freed slaves.

1962
Algeria became a sovereign nation after 130 years of French colonial rule. The struggle for independence inspired “The Battle of Algiers,” a movie by Gillo Pontecorvo. The film has been shown extensively in the Pentagon to help understand the Iraqi insurgency.

French army confront demonstrators for Algerian independence in 1960

Continue reading →

March 17

St. Patrick’s Day

1966
A three-week 340-mile march by Cesar Chavez and the National Farm Workers Association left Delano for Sacramento, the capital of California, arriving on Easter Sunday, calling public attention to the plight of farm workers and for their right to organize a union.

Continue reading →

March 16

1751
Freedom of Information Day, on the anniversary of the birth of former president James Madison, who helped draft the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution.
1827
Freedom’s Journal, first Black newspaper in the U.S. begins publishing.

1921
The War Resisters International was founded with sections set up in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. By 1939 there were 54 WRI Sections in 24 countries, including America.
Their symbol – a broken gun. Their slogan -“The right to refuse to kill.”

WRI No More War demonstration in Berlin 1922

Continue reading →

March 15

1869
First federal women’s suffrage amendment ever introduced in U.S. Congress.

1907
Finland became the first European country to allow women to vote.

1938
Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia

1970
During a second attempt by Native American activists to occupy Fort Lawton, 78 protesters were arrested. They were demanding the City of Seattle give the unused facility back to Native Americans.

Indians demonstrating at Fort Lawton

1993
The United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador concluded that most of the murder and human rights abuses during its civil war had been committed by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran government through its various military and security and allied paramilitary organizations.
The Complete Report