Friday, 21 May 2021: We are nothing without our history. That is why it is crucial for us to relieve moments that have passed, and to remember those that matter. We are defined by our history depending on the effect it has on us. Regardless of whether a history is good or bad, how we react to it is totally up to us. Today CEOAFRICA takes a glance at some of the most significant happenings in history.
At CEOAFRICA, the leading online media company in Africa, we shall be serving you on daily basis, TODAY IN HISTORY for your education and remembrance.
1881 U.S.A. American Red Cross
1881: Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters as part of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies.
In 1910, a year-old Jewish settlement near the port city of Jaffa adopted the name Tel Aviv (Hebrew for “Hill of Spring”).
1924 Leopold and Loeb Murder Bobby Franks
1924 : Leopold and Loeb two wealthy University of Chicago students murder a 14-year-old boy Bobby Franks believing they could commit the perfect crime. They were caught because a pair of eyeglasses found near the body had an unusual hinge mechanism only bought by 3 people in Chicago and one of those was Nathan Leopold.
1927 France Charles Lindbergh
1927: Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris, completing the first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight. Lindbergh was the dark horse when he entered a competition for a $25,000 prize to anyone able to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. More about the first Non-Stop Transatlantic Flight
1932 Ireland Amelia Earhart
1932 : Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to make a solo air crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to Ireland.
1947 U.S.A. Lynching Trial
1947: 28 acquitted of lynching a black man after taking him from the county jail in South Carolina for stabbing a white taxi driver after the defense council who criticized northern interference and demanded acquittal to show the north it should stay out of South Carolina and let us run our counties he also said he is dead and more like him should be dead.
1958 England Direct Dial Phone Calls Announced
1958 : The Postmaster General Ernest Marples has announced that from next year the new automated telephone connection which will make calls easier and cheaper because no telephone operator will be needed will begin in Bristol and slowly be rolled out countrywide in the next 10 years. The price of a direct dial call will start at 2d ( less than 1p )and a three-minute call will cost 2s 6d, ( 12 1/2p ).
1960 Chile Earthquake
1960: An 8.5-magnitude quake hits Valdivia, Chile. The earthquake caused huge landslides to fall down the mountains of the region, as well as a series of tsunamis including a 26-foot wave which strikes the coastal region of Chile. The quake and after affects including the giant wave leaves 5,000 people dead and another 2 million homeless.
1961 U.S.A. "Freedom Riders"
1961 : Following the attacks on a busload of "Freedom Riders" the day before, martial law is imposed in the town of Montgomery, Alabama after violent clashes between blacks and whites.
1966 Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) vs Henry Cooper
1966 : American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) ends the hopes of British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper winning the world heavyweight titles when the bout is stopped in Round 6 because of a severe cut above Henry Cooper's Left eye.
1968 U.S. Submarine Scorpion
1968 : The nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Scorpion while heading back to Naval Base Norfolk from the Azores is heard from for the last time. The Scorpion and her crew of 99 was officially declared lost on June 5th, 1968. (The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.)
In 1972, Michelangelo’s Pieta, on display at the Vatican, was damaged by a hammer-wielding man who shouted he was Jesus Christ.
1979: U.S.A. The Twinkie defense
1979 : Dan White who had gone to see Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk to ask for his old job back, when they refuse to give him back his job he shot and killed them both. He is convicted of voluntary manslaughter (Rather Than First Degree Murder ) after his defense lawyers argue his mental state at the time of the killings was one of diminished capacity due to depression, caused by his consumption of sugary junk food. White's defense was labeled by the press as "the Twinkie defense."
1986: U.S.A. Arms Sales To Saudi Arabia
1986 : President Reagan vetoed a resolution blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia stating the Saudi's have helped in the war on terrorism and are vital to our strategic, political and economic interests in the middle east.
1991 India Rajiv Gandhi Assassinated
1991 : Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated when a bomb explodes during election campaigning in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
2009 Accused Witches Burned in Kenya
2009 : Eleven people accused of being witches were burned to death in Kenya. Villagers formed a mob and attacked the elderly people, eventually killing the eight women and three men who were all over the age of eighty.
2010 US Scientists Create Artificial Life
2010: Scientists in the United States successfully created artificial life by creating the first live cell to be controlled by synthetic DNA.
2012 Mali President Attacked by Protesters
2012 : Dioncounda Traore, the interim president of Mali, was beaten up by protesters and was taken to the hospital for a head wound. People who had supported a coup that happened in March had gathered in massive protests after a deal was made that would keep Traore in power for another year.
2013 Tunisian Man Killed by Coronavirus
2013 : A Tunisian man who had recently visited Saudi Arabia died after being infected with the new deadly coronavirus (NCoV). This was thought to be the first case of the virus in Africa. At this point only forty-one cases had been reported worldwide and of those forty-one, twenty had died from the virus.
Ten years ago: Shackleford won the Preakness, holding off a late charge from Kentucky Derby-winner Animal Kingdom to win as a 12-1 underdog.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama departed on a weeklong, 16,000-mile trip to Asia, part of his effort to pay more attention to the region and boost economic and security cooperation. The U.S. conducted a drone strike in Afghanistan that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour.
One year ago: President Donald Trump visited a Ford Motor Co. plant outside Detroit that had been repurposed to manufacture ventilators; he did not publicly wear a face mask but said he had worn one while out of public view. A Michigan judge sided with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a challenge by Republican lawmakers to her authority to order sweeping restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak. The government said nearly 39 million Americans had been thrown out of a job since the coronavirus crisis began. A sharply divided Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was released from federal prison to serve the rest of his sentence at home because of the pandemic. (Cohen would briefly return to prison in July, but was set free by a judge who said his return to prison was retaliation for his plan to release a book critical of Trump.)
