1972: Congress Passes Equal Rights Amendment

On March 22, 1972, the Senate approved the Equal Rights Amendment, which banned discrimination on the basis of sex. The amendment fell three states...

On This Day: Bodies of Three Civil Rights Workers Discovered in Mississippi

On Aug. 4, 1964, the bodies of missing civil rights volunteers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman were discovered in a dam outside...

1965: Malcolm X Assassinated

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X, a former Nation of Islam leader, was assassinated by Black Muslims in New York. Malcolm X Shot Dead in...

1820: The “Mayflower of Liberia” Sets Sail

On February 6, 1820, a ship of freed black slaves set sail from New York for the coast of West Africa, where they would...

2002: The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic Begins

On February 12, 2002, the war crimes trial of Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic began at The Hague. The defendant died before a sentence was...

1974: Russian Dissident Writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn Charged With Treason

On February 14, 1974, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian writer who revealed the horrors of the Soviet gulag, was charged with treason a day after...

1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Kills 146

On March 25, 1911, a fire at New York City’s crowded, unsafe Triangle Shirtwaist Factory killed 146 workers. Public outrage over the incident galvanized...

1980: United States Beats USSR in “Miracle on Ice”

On February 22, 1980, the underdog U.S. hockey team beat the powerful Soviet team in a thrilling upset at the Lake Placid Olympics. USA 4,...

1995: Aum Shinrikyo Cult Releases Nerve Gas on Tokyo Subway

On March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released poisonous sarin gas on five Tokyo subway trains, killing 12 and injuring thousands. Poisonous...