Page 4 – Zinn Education Project

Members of the 55th Massachusetts | Zinn Education Project

Feb. 18, 1865: Black Soldiers March into Charleston

The Union Army moved into Charleston, South Carolina, the city where the Civil War had begun four years earlier.

"Freedom might be too great a temptation" Marker Text | Zinn Education Project

Feb. 18, 1797: Hercules Escapes from Enslavement by George Washington

Hercules, the head cook at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and slave labor camp, escaped to freedom in Pennsylvania.

Huey Newton surrounded by youth of East Oakland community, August 1970.

Feb. 17, 1942: Huey P. Newton Born

Huey P. Newton was co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

Photo of striking rubber workers clashing with police in Akron Ohio, 1936

Feb. 16, 1936: Akron Rubber Strike

Rubber workers began a sit-down strike at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio.

Feb. 15, 1851: Shadrach Minkins Arrested by U.S. Marshals Under Fugitive Slave Act

U.S. Marshals arrested Shadrach Minkins, who had escaped from slavery in Norfolk, Virginia.

School Desegregation | Zinn Education Project

Feb. 15, 1848: Benjamin Roberts Filed the First School Desegregation Suit

Benjamin Roberts, African American, filed the first school desegregation suit after his daughter Sarah was barred from a public school because of her race in Boston, Massachusetts.

Feb. 14, 2011: Wisconsin Workers Strike

The Wisconsin Workers strike involved as many as 100,000 protesters opposing the 2011 Wisconsin Act 10.

Feb. 14, 1783: Belinda Sutton Petitions for a Pension as Reparations

Belinda Sutton petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for a pension as reparations for the wealth she produced and was stolen from her while she was enslaved.

Feb. 13, 2013: Keystone Pipeline Protesters Circle White House

Activists circled the White House to protest the Keystone Pipeline, an oil system that transports crude oil from Canada to various locations in the United States.

Feb. 13, 1937: Founding of Southern Negro Youth Congress

The first Southern Negro Youth Conference (SNYC) conference was held in Richmond, Virginia.

Feb. 12, 1971: Raiford Florida State Prison Uprising

Prisoners at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida, staged a sit-down strike to protest prison conditions. The 700 incarcerated protesters were met with gunfire by prison guards, leaving 63 prisoners injured.

Feb. 12, 1968: Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis

Over 1,100 sanitation workers strike and march for better wages, conditions, and safety with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.

Feb. 12, 1958: Popular TV Program Warns of Global Warming

The popular, educational Bell Laboratories Science series aired a new chapter in the series on prime-time television which warned that CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel use could warm the earth to a degree that melts the polar ice caps and creates a catastrophic rise in sea levels.

Feb. 12, 1938: Ellen Harris Refuses to Move for White Passenger

Ellen Harris told the bus driver she would accept a refund and get off the bus, but the driver refused to accept her terms and had her arrested for breaking segregation law.

Feb. 12, 1904: Report on Brutal Violence of Imperialism in the Congo

The Casement Report was delivered before the British Houses of Parliament, providing firsthand accounts of the brutal violence inflicted upon the indigenous people and the land in the Congo Free State by settler colonialists acting on behalf of Belgium’s King Leopold II.