This Day in History
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Fidel Castro Announces Cuba Will Adopt Communism
Tue, 2 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT
In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that, under his leadership, Cuba would become a Communist state. His announcement came nearly eight months after the disastrous, US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion. Cuba's adoption of Communism, coupled with the country's proximity to the US, was a key element in the Cold War and continues to affect international relations. How many attempts have been made on Castro's life?
Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat
Mon, 1 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT
Called the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement" by the US Congress, Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist who became famous in 1955 for refusing to vacate her seat on a municipal bus for a white man. This act of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which launched Martin Luther King, Jr. into prominence and became one of the largest and most successful movements against racial segregation. How many thousands of commuters took part in the boycott?
Skeleton of "Lucy" Discovered
Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT
"Lucy," a 3.2 million-year-old female hominid of the species Australopithecus afarensis, was discovered by scientists in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. An unprecedented 40% intact, Lucy was the first fossil hominid to really capture public notice. Although she was 3 feet, 8 inches tall and looked somewhat like a chimpanzee, her bipedal knee structure indicates that she walked upright, like a human. What other human skeletal features did she possess?
