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The Harlem Uprising of 1935

Back in the day on March 19th, 1935 Lino Rivera, a Puerto Rican youth in Harlem, was accused by white store owners of stealing a penknife. Taking place during the Great Depression where people of color suffered greatly, the Harlem Uprising that ensued from this seemingly small altercation began after rumors …

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The Paris Insurrection

Back in the day on March 18th, 1871 an uprising took hold in Paris, France that would eventually lead to the establishment of the Paris Commune. The immediate political catalyst for the insurrection in the capital city was the defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War. In negotiating an armistice, members of …

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The Assault on Kronstadt

Back in the day on March 17th, 1921 the Red Army began its final assault on the Kronstadt Rebellion. A naval base in the Gulf of Finland, Kronstadt had been a pivotal geographical center of rebellion in Russia in both 1905 and 1917. However, in 1921, it became a point of dissension …

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Freedom’s Journal

Back in the day on March 16th, 1827 the first black owned and operated newspaper in the United States was established. Edited by Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm, “Freedom’s Journal,” was centered in New York, but grew to be distributed in eleven states as well as numerous other countries including Haiti and …

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The Butler Act

Back in the day on March 13th, 1925 the Tennessee State Legislature passed the Butler Act into law. Authored by John Washington Butler, a Tennessee farmer, the first section of the statute provided that it be unlawful for any teacher in a publicly funded educational institution to teach any scientific theory that invalidated …

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Gandhi’s Salt March

Back in the day on March 12th, 1930 Mahatma Gandhi and seventy-eight satyagrahis embarked on the Salt March for India’s independence. Before the march, in a letter to Viceroy Irwin, Gandhi called the British rule of his country a “curse,” and criticized the colonial monopoly of the sale and production of salt. In …

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Hone Heke’s Rebellion

Back in the day on March 11th, 1845 indigenous Maori chief Hone Heke cut down a British flagstaff at Kororareka, New Zealand for the fourth time. Tensions had been building between the indigenous peoples and the ever increasing British colonial presence. This unease increased after the Treaty of Waitangi, which Heke had originally …

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U.S. Firebombing of Tokyo

Back in the day on March 10th, 1945, the United States concluded its firebombing of Tokyo, Japan. Occurring during the final months of World War II, the U.S. Air Force deployed more than three hundred low-level B-29 bombers beginning in the late night hours of March 9th. In what many historians note …

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Pancho Villa Rides on Columbus, New Mexico

Back in the day on March 9th, 1916, Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa led a cross-border raid on Columbus, New Mexico. In what was the first attack on U.S. soil since 1812, hundreds of Villistas destroyed much of the business district of the border town in the early morning hours. …

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The Dred Scott Decision

Back in the day on March 6th, 1857, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, an African-American man, was not a citizen, could never become a citizen, and thus had no right to sue the federal government for his freedom and must remain enslaved. Scott, after ten years of lower …

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