Dec
22
2009
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the entire program
The Execution of Jose Maria Morelos
Back in the day on December 22nd, 1815, Jose Maria Morelos was executed by the Spanish colonial authorities in Mexico. The Roman Catholic Priest had been put before the firing squad for his involvement in the independence movement. As a colonel in Father Hidalgo’s revolutionary army, Morelos was able to claim numerous …
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Dec
21
2009
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the entire program
The Santa Maria de Iquique Massacre
Back in the day on December 21st, 1907, the bloody Santa Maria de Iquique Massacre took the lives of hundreds if not thousands of workers in Chile. Earlier that month, nitrate miners on strike descended on the northern port city of Iquique to demand better working conditions and higher salaries. Local authorities …
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Dec
14
2009
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the entire program
“Paxton Boys” Massacres
Back in the day on December 14th, 1763, a band of vigilante frontiersmen from Western Pennsylvania slaughtered six sleeping natives. After the murders, the attackers, known as the “Paxton Boys,” burned down the village of Conestoga sixty miles west of modern-day Philadelphia. Afterwards, colonial governor James Penn took fourteen survivors of the massacre into …
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Dec
11
2009
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the entire program
Ernesto “Che” Guevara at the UN
Back in the day on December 11th, 1964, Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara addressed the United Nations. As a selected spokesperson for the Cuban government, Guevara arrived to New York two days prior to his speech before the General Assembly. Even though Guevara’s travel aspirations had always sought out the city, …
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Dec
08
2009
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the entire program
The Murder of John Lennon
Back in the day on December 8th 1980, musician John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman. The former member of the Beatles was pronounced dead on arrival after sustaining four gun shot wounds just outside of his home in New York. Chapman’s actions robbed the music world of one of its most …
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Dec
04
2009
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the entire program
The Murder of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark
Back in the day on December 4th, 1969, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were murdered by the Chicago Police Department. Exactly forty years ago the two members of the Black Panther Party were shot to death during an early morning raid on their apartment. Despite the police having been cleared …
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Dec
03
2009
The Eureka Rebellion
Back in the day on December 3rd, 1854, the Eureka Rebellion took place in Australia. The altercation pitted hundreds of gold miners against government troops as the two clashed over a fortified stockade. Before the rebellion, a gold rush in the British colony of Victoria had set the stage for a class conflict. Miners, who were …
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Dec
02
2009
Four Churchwomen Murdered in El Salvador
Back in the day on December 2nd, 1980, four U.S. Catholic churchwomen were brutally raped murdered by National Guardsmen in El Salvador. Maryknoll sisters Maura Clark and Ita Ford, Ursuline nun Dorothy Kazel and lay worker Jean Donovan were buried in a shallow grave the following day after their bodies were discovered. The …
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Nov
25
2009
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the entire program
The Dull Knife Fight
Back in the day on November 25th, 1876, U.S. cavalrymen under the command of Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie laid siege to an encampment of Northern Cheyenne peoples. The raid at dawn known to history as ‘The Dull Knife Fight’ was in retaliation for the losses the U.S. had sustained at the hands of native …
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Nov
24
2009
The Publication of the Origin of Species
Back in the day on November 24th, 1859, the first edition of “The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin was published. Only 1,250 copies went into circulation one-hundred and fifty years ago, but the work quickly became supremely influential for its major contribution to evolutionary theory. Darwin, considered the father of modern …
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