http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Aug 28, 1963: King speaks to March on Washington
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the African American civil rights movement reaches its high-water mark when Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks to about 250,000 people attending the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The demonstrators--black and white, poor and rich--came together in the nation's capital to demand voting rights and equal opportunity for African Americans and to appeal for an end to racial segregation and discrimination.
The peaceful rally was the largest assembly for a redress of grievances that the capital had ever seen, and King was the last speaker. With the statue of Abraham Lincoln--the Great Emancipator--towering behind him, King used the rhetorical talents he had developed as a Baptist preacher to show how, as he put it, the "Negro is still not free." He told of the struggle ahead, stressing the importance of continued action and nonviolent protest. Coming to the end of his prepared text (which, like other speakers that day, he had limited to seven minutes), he was overwhelmed by the moment and launched into an improvised sermon.
He told the hushed crowd, "Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettoes of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair." Continuing, he began the refrain that made the speech one of the best known in U.S. history, second only to Lincoln's 1863 "Gettysburg Address":
"I have a dream," he boomed over the crowd stretching from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, "that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."
King had used the "I have a dream" theme before, in a handful of stump speeches, but never with the force and effectiveness of that hot August day in Washington. He equated the civil rights movement with the highest and noblest ideals of the American tradition, allowing many to see for the first time the importance and urgency of racial equality. He ended his stirring, 16-minute speech with his vision of the fruit of racial harmony:
"When we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"
In the year after the March on Washington, the civil rights movement achieved two of its greatest successes: the ratification of the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished the poll tax and thus a barrier to poor African American voters in the South; and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited racial discrimination in employment and education and outlawed racial segregation in public facilities. In October 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 4, 1968, he was shot to death while standing on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee--he was 39 years old. The gunman was escaped convict James Earl Ray.
Aug 28, 1879: Zulu king captured
King Cetshwayo, the last great ruler of Zululand, is captured by the British following his defeat in the British-Zulu War. He was subsequently sent into exile. Cetshwayo's defiance of British rule in southern Africa led to Britain's invasion of Zululand in 1879.
In 1843, Britain succeeded the Boers as the rulers of Natal, which controlled Zululand, the neighboring kingdom of the Zulu people. Boers, also known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers who came to South Africa in the 17th century. Zulus, a migrant people from the north, also came to southern Africa during the 17th century, settling around the Tugela River region. In 1838, the Boers, migrating north to elude the new British dominions in the south, first came into armed conflict with the Zulus, who were under the rule of King Dingane at the time. The European migrants succeeded in overthrowing Dingane in 1840, replacing him with his son Mpande, who became a vassal of the new Boer republic of Natal. In 1843, the British took over Natal and Zululand.
In 1872, King Mpande died and was succeeded by his son Cetshwayo, who was determined to resist European domination in his territory. In December 1878, Cetshwayo rejected the British demand that he disband his troops, and in January British forces invaded Zululand to suppress Cetshwayo. The British suffered grave defeats at Isandlwana, where 1,300 British soldiers were killed or wounded, and at Hlobane Mountain, but on March 29 the tide turned in favor of the British at the Battle of Khambula.
King Cetshwayo was subsequently captured and sent into exile, but in 1883 he was reinstated to rule over part of his former territory. However, because of his defeats he was discredited in the eyes of his subjects, and they soon drove him out of Zululand. He died in exile in the next year.
In 1887, faced with continuing Zulu rebellions, the British formally annexed Zululand, and in 1897 it became a part of Natal, which joined the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Aug 28, 1941: Mass slaughter in Ukraine
On this day in 1941, more than 23,000 Hungarian Jews are murdered by the Gestapo in occupied Ukraine.
The German invasion of the Soviet Union had advanced to the point of mass air raids on Moscow and the occupation of parts of Ukraine. On August 26, Hitler displayed the joys of conquest by inviting Benito Mussolini to Brest-Litovsk, where the Germans had destroyed the city's citadel. The grand irony is that Ukrainians had originally viewed the Germans as liberators from their Soviet oppressors and an ally in the struggle for independence. But as early as July, the Germans were arresting Ukrainians agitating and organizing for a provisional state government with an eye toward autonomy and throwing them into concentration camps. The Germans also began carving the nation up, dispensing parts to Poland (already occupied by Germany) and Romania.
But true horrors were reserved for Jews in the territory. Tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews had been expelled from that country and migrated to Ukraine. The German authorities tried sending them back, but Hungary would not take them. SS General Franz Jaeckeln vowed to deal with the influx of refugees by the "complete liquidation of those Jews by September 1." He worked even faster than promised. On August 28, he marched more than 23,000 Hungarian Jews to bomb craters at Kamenets Podolsk, ordered them to undress, and riddled them with machine-gun fire. Those who didn't die from the spray of bullets were buried alive under the weight of corpses that piled atop them.
All told, more than 600,000 Jews had been murdered in Ukraine by war's end.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. I wrote an entire blog entry on this itself, earlier today.
But there also were other events that took place today. Roman general Orestes forced the western Roman Emperor, Julius Nepos, to flee Ravenna. Jews were barred from military service in New Amsterdam. The Battle of Cooch's Bridge, near Newark, Delaware, took place on this date during the American Revolution. Sir William Herschel discovered one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus. Wagner's Lohengrin premiered on this day in Germany in 1850. Germany declared war on Romania during the First World War. Netherlands began to mobilize on this date in 1939, in anticipation of possible (some might have acknowledged, inevitable) invasion by Germany during the next World War. Cameroon and French Congo declared their support of General Charles De Gaulle on this date in 1940. A general strike against the Nazi occupying forces took place on this date in 1943 in Denmark. The last remaining German troops in Marseilles surrendered on this date in 1944. Six years to the day before the "I Have a Dream" speech, Senator Strom Thurmond spoke for 24 consecutive hours in an attempt to filibuster and block a Civil Rights bill. Five years after the speech, police clashed with protesters in Chicago on this day during the Democratic National Convention. The New York Cosmos won consecutive championships in two straight years on this date in the 1970's. Israeli Prime Minister Begin resigned on this day in 1983. A proposed bill introduced in the Pakistani National Assembly that would have put the "Qu'ran and Sunnah" as the "supreme law" was defeated.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
475 - The Roman general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor
Julius Nepos to flee his capital city, Ravenna.
476 - German ruler Odoacer captures Pavia
476 - West Roman Empire formally disbands/emperor Romulus
August ousted
489 - Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at
the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.
1189 - Third Crusade: the Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre
under Guy of Lusignan
1521 - Turkish sultan Suleiman I's troops occupy Belgrade
1542 - Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557) - Battle of Wofla:
the Portuguese are scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama is captured and
afterwards executed.
1565 - Oldest city in the US, St Augustine Fla, established
1609 - Henry Hudson, discovers & explores Delaware Bay
1619 - Ferdinand II elected Holy Roman Emperor
1632 - Henry Casimir I appointed viceroy of Drenthe
1637 - WIC-colonel Hans Koin conquerors Fort Elmina, West
Africa
1640 - Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army
loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn
1655 - New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant bars Jews from
military service
1777 - American Revolutionary War - Battle of Cooch's Bridge
takes place near Newark, Delaware.
1789 - Sir William Herschel discovers Saturn's moon
Enceladus
1830 - 1st locomotive in US, "Tom Thumb," runs
from Baltimore to Ellicotts Mill
1837 - Pharmacists John Lea & William Perrins
manufactures Worcester Sauce
1840 - 9 Jewish prisoners are released from Damascus jails
1845 - Scientific American magazine publishes its first issue.
1849 - Venice under Daniele Manin surrenders to Austrians
under Radetsky, after been under siege since July 20 after proclaiming
independence
1850 - Richard Wagner's opera "Lohengrin"
premieres at Weimar Germany
1859 - A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to
shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even
as far afield as Japan.
1861 - Battle of Fort Hatteras NC
1862 - Battle of Thoroughfare Gap VA
1862 - Battle of Groveton, VA (Manassas Plains) [->AUG
19] US7000 CS7000
1862 - Belle Boyd released from Old Capital Prison in
Washington, DC
1867 - US occupies Midway Islands in Pacific
1879 - Battle at Ulundi: Lord Chelmsford beats king
Cetshwayo's Zuluz
1884 - 1st known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard
SD
1884 - Mickey Welsh strikes-out 1st 9 men he faces
1898 - Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink
"Pepsi-Cola".
1907 - United Parcel Service begins service, in Seattle
1907 - UPS is founded by James E. Casey in Seattle,
Washington.
1908 - 14th
US Golf Open: Fred McLeod shoots a 322 at Myopia Hunt Club Mass
1911 - 45.7 cm rainfall at St George, Georgia (state record)
1913 - Queen Wilhelmina opens Peace Palace (The Hague)
1914 - 3rd day of battle at Tannenberg: violent
German/Russian battles
1914 - Battle at Helgoland: British fleet beats German, 1100
killed
1914 - John French evacuate Amiens
1916 - Germany declares war on Romania
1916 - Italy declares war against Germany during WW I
1917 - 10 suffragists arrested as they picket White House
1918 - Tris Speaker suspended for season due to assault on
ump Tom Connolly
1919 - General John Smuts becomes premier of South Africa
1921 - 2nd Pan-African Congress meets (London, Brussels
& Paris)
1921 - Babe Ruth starts streak of an extra-base hit in 9
straight games
1922 - 1st Walker Cup: US beats England 8-4
1922 - Albert von Tilzer & Neville Fleesons musical
premieres in NYC
1922 - WEAF
in NYC airs 1st radio coml (Queensboro Realty-$100 for 10 mins)
1924 - Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising
against the Soviet Union.
1925 - Meteorite falls on Ellemeet, Schouwen, Devil Island
1926 - Indian Emil Levsen pitches complete doubleheader
victory (Red Sox)
1929 - Frank Woolley scores his 100th first-class hundred
1937 - Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
1938 - Mauthausen concentration camp opens in Austria
1938 - Northwestern U awards honorary degree to dummy
Charlie McCarthy
1938 - On Connie Mack Day at Shibe Park, the A's win a
doubleheader
1939 - "Monty" becomes commandant of 3rd
"Iron" Infantry division
1939 - Netherlands mobilizes
1939 - Sammy Fain/Jack Yellen's musical "George White's
Scandals" premieres
1940 - French colonies Cameroon/Congo-Brazzaville support
Gen De Gaulle
1941 - 8th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Chi Bears 37,
All-Stars 13 (98,203)
1941 - Last meeting of resistance fighter Comte d'Estienne
d'Orves
1942 - 9th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Chi Bears 21,
All-Stars 0 (101,100)
1942 - Gunther Hagg (Sweden) sets world record for 3,000m
(8:01.2)
1942 - Transport nr 25 departs with French Jews to
nazi-Germany
1943 - Denmark, declares a universal strike against Nazi
occupiers
1943 - Benito Mussolini transfered from La Maddalena Sardinia to Gran
Sasso
1944 - Last German troops in Marseille surrendered, and Toulon cleared
1944 - US air raid on Ambon
1949 - 38th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in New York (4-1)
1949 - Riot prevents Paul Robeson from singing near Peekskill
NY
1950 - Earle & Roy Mack, purchase 54% of A's from Connie
Mack Jr
1951 - Braves sell pitcher Johnny Sain to the Yankees for
$50,000
1951 - Pirates snap NY Giants 16 game win streak
1952 - German & Israeli reach accord about recovery
payments
1952 - Jakob Malik succeeds Zorine as Foreign minister
1953 - "Me & Juliet" opens at Majestic Theater
NYC for 358 performances
1955 - 1st NFL preseason sudden death football, Rams beats
Giants 23-17
1955 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Heart of America Golf
Tournament
1956 - England retain cricket Ashes, Jim Laker 46 wickets in
the series
1957 - Sen Thurmond begins 24-hr filibuster against civil
rights bill
1958 - Nellie Fox sets record for consecutive games without
striking out (98)
1960 - White Sox Ted Kluzewski's 3-run HR is disallowed as
ump called time
1962 - 55.9 cm rainfall at Hackberry, Louisiana (state
record)
1962 - Dr Geza DeKaplany tortures wife with acid
1962 - Tony Sheridan & Beat Brothers record "Ya Ya (Parts 1 +
2)"
1963 - 200,000 demonstrate for equal rights in Washington,
DC
1963 - Evergreen Point Floating Bridge connecting Seattle
& Bellevue opens
1963 - Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream
speech" at Lincoln Memorial
1964 - Race riot in Philadelphia
1964 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964 - US weather satellite Nimbus 1 launched
1964 - WEWS-TV Channel 5's "Upbeat" debuts in
Cleveland
1965 - Bob Dylan booed for playing electric guiter at a
concert in New York's Forest Hills
1966 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Glass City Golf Classic
1967 - Asif Iqbal & Intikhab Alam make 190 stand for 9th
wkt v Eng
1967 - Boston signs 1st free-agent outfielder Ken Harrelson
for $75,000 bonus
1968 - Police & anti-war demonstrators clash at
Chicago's Dem Natl Conven
1970 - Phillies Larry Bowa steals home for 2nd time in 1970
1971 - The dollar is allowed to float against the yen for
the first time.
1972 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1973 - "Monster Mash" goes gold
1973 - "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple goes
gold
1973 - 6.8 quake centered in Oaxaca State in Mexico kills
527
1973 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1973 - India & Pakistan sign POW accord
1973 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1974 - Soyuz 15 returns to Earth
1976 - NY Cosmos beat Seattle Sounders 2-1 for NASL cup
1976 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1977 - Bonnie Lauer wins LPGA Patty Berg Golf Classic
1977 - NY Yankee Ron Guidry faces just 28 men & beats
Texas Rangers 1-0
1977 - Nolan Ryan strikes out 300 batters for 5th straight
year
1977 - NY Cosmos defeat Seattle Sounders, 2-1, at Civic
Stadium in Portland Ore, winning their 2nd North American Soccer League
championship
1978 - Donald Vesco rode 21'-long Kawasaki motorcycle at
318.598 mph
1978 - Ja'afar Sharif-Emami appointed premier of Iran
1979 - IRA bomb explodes on Brussels Great Market
1979 - Train crash at Nijmegen, 7 die
1981 - John Hinckley Jr pleads innocent in attempt to kill
Pres Reagan
1981 - Sebastian Coe of UK sets 1-mi record of 3:47.33
(since broken)
1981 - National Centers for Disease Control announces high
incidence of Pneumocystis & Kaposi's sarcoma in gay men
1982 - "Sugar Babies" closes at Mark Hellinger
Theater NYC after 1208 perfs
1982 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1982 - The first Gay Games are held in San Francisco.
1983 - "Mame" closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after
41 performances
1983 - Greg Luzinski is 1st player to put 3 HRs onto roof at
Comiskey Park
1983 - Israeli PM Menachem Begin announces resignation
1983 - Joseph Kreckman sets record of 2,215 clay pigeons
shot in an hour
1983 - Pat Bradley wins Columbia Savings Golf Classic
1984 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1986 - Bolivia president Victor Paz Estensoro calls state of
siege
1986 - Largest wrestling crowd in Canada (69,300) at Toronto
Stadium
1986 - Tina Turner's star unveiled in Hollywood
1986 - US Navy officer Jerry A Whitworth sentenced to 365
years for spying
1987 - Mike Schmidt passes Ted Williams & Willie McCovey
with 522 HRs
1988 - 40th Emmy Awards: 30something, Wonder Years &
Richard Kiley
1988 - 70 killed in crash of 3 Italian AF fighters at air
show in Germany
1988 - 88th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Eric Meeks
1988 - Italian stunt flyers crashes in flames in West
Germany, killing 50
1988 - Patty Jordan wins LPGA Ocean State Golf Open
1988 - Rosie Jones wins LPGA Nestle World Golf Championship
1989 - 1st regular-season matchup of defending Cy Young Award winners
1989 - Frank Viola & Mets outduel Orel Hershiser &
Dodgers 1-0
1990 - Cub's Ryne Sandberg is 1st 2nd baseman to hit 30 HRs,
consecutively
1990 - Stefan Edberg (#1 seeded player) loses in 1st round
to Alex Volkov
1991 - Lexington Ave IRT subway train derails at Union
Square, 5 die
1991 - Red Tom Browning vs Expo Dennis Martinez both perfect
game pitcher
1992 - Test Cricket debut of Muttiah Muralitharan, vs
Australia at Colombo
1993 - Dam breaks in Qinghai West China, 223 killed
1993 - Jakovlev-42 crashes in Tadzjikistan, 76 killed
1993 - Long Beach California beats Panama for little league
world championship
1993 - Singapore vice-premier Teng Cheong elected president
1994 - 1st Japanese gay pride parade
1994 - 22nd du Maurier Golf Classic: Martha Nause
1994 - 94th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Tiger Woods
1995 - Last day of Test Cricket for Richie Richardson
1995 - Northants 7-781
decl defeat Nottinghamshire 527 & 157
1996 - Liam Botham takes 5-67 on 1st-class debut Hants v
Middlesex
1997 - Belgian amusement park riders were stuck upside down
for 90 minutes
1998 - Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional
amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law"
but the bill is defeated in the Senate.
2003 - An electricity blackout cuts off power to around
500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's
underground rail network to a halt.
2005 - Hurricane Katrina hammers the south eastern United
States, especially New Orleans, Louisiana, and coastal Mississippi
2012 - Mitt Romney is officially nominated as the United
States Republican Party's candidate
1609 - Delaware Bay was discovered by Henry Hudson. 1619 - Ferdinand II was elected Holy Roman Emperor. His policy of "One church, one king" was his way of trying to outlaw Protestantism. 1774 - The first American-born saint was born in New York City. Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized in 1975. 1811 - Percy Bysshe Shelley and Harriet Westbrook eloped. 1830 - "The Tom Thumb" was demonstrated in Baltimore, MD. It was the first passenger-carrying train of its kind to be built in America. 1833 - Slavery was banned by the British Parliament throughout the British Empire. 1907 - "American Messenger Company" was started by two teenagers, Jim Casey and Claude Ryan. The company's name was later changedto "United Parcel Service." 1916 - Italy's declaration of war against Germany took effect duringWorld War I. 1917 - Ten suffragists were arrested as they picketed the White House. 1922 - The first radio commercial aired on WEAF in New York City. The Queensboro Realty Company bought 10 minutes of time for$100. 1922 - The Walker Cup was held for the first time at Southampton, NY. It is the oldest international team golf match in America. 1939 - The first successful flight of a jet-propelled airplane took place. The plane was a German Heinkel He 178. 1941 - The Football Writers Association of America was organized. 1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at a civil rights rally in Washington, DC. More than 200,000 people attended. 1972 - Mark Spitz captured the first of his seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He set a world record when he completed the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes and 7/10ths of a second. 1981 - "The New York Daily News" published its final afternoon edition. 1990 - Iraq declared Kuwait to be its 19th province and renamed Kuwait City al-Kadhima. 1995 - The biggest bank in the U.S. was created when Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank announced their $10 billion deal. 1996 - A divorce decree was issued for Britain's Charles and Princess Diana. This was the official end to the 15-year marriage. 1998 - The Pakistani prime minister created new Islamic order and legal system based on the Koran. 2004 - George Brunstad, at age 70, became the oldest person to swim the English Channel. The swim from Dover, England, to Sangatte, France, took 15 hours and 59 minutes.
1609 Henry Hudson discovered Delaware Bay. 1850 Richard Wagner's opera, Lohengrin, premiered at Weimar, Germany. 1922 The first commercial to be broadcast on radio aired on station WEAF in New York City. The ten minute advertisement for the Queensboro Realty Company cost $100. 1955 Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was abducted and by white men after he supposedly whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. The case was reopened in 2005. 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial to civil rights demonstrators. 1968 Anti-Vietnam war protesters and police clashed in the streets of Chicago while the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president. 1981 The Centers for Disease Control announced a medical task force had been formed to look into the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis in homosexual men. AIDS was later found to be the cause.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/aug28.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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