http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Feb 11, 1990: Nelson Mandela released from prison
Nelson Mandela, leader of the movement to end South African apartheid, is released from prison after 27 years on February 11, 1990.
In 1944, Mandela, a lawyer, joined the African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black political organization in South Africa, where he became a leader of Johannesburg's youth wing of the ANC. In 1952, he became deputy national president of the ANC, advocating nonviolent resistance to apartheid--South Africa's institutionalized system of white supremacy and racial segregation. However, after the massacre of peaceful black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, Nelson helped organize a paramilitary branch of the ANC to engage in guerrilla warfare against the white minority government.
In 1961, he was arrested for treason, and although acquitted he was arrested again in 1962 for illegally leaving the country. Convicted and sentenced to five years at Robben Island Prison, he was put on trial again in 1964 on charges of sabotage. In June 1964, he was convicted along with several other ANC leaders and sentenced to life in prison.
Mandela spent the first 18 of his 27 years in jail at the brutal Robben Island Prison. Confined to a small cell without a bed or plumbing, he was forced to do hard labor in a quarry. He could write and receive a letter once every six months, and once a year he was allowed to meet with a visitor for 30 minutes. However, Mandela's resolve remained unbroken, and while remaining the symbolic leader of the anti-apartheid movement, he led a movement of civil disobedience at the prison that coerced South African officials into drastically improving conditions on Robben Island. He was later moved to another location, where he lived under house arrest.
In 1989, F.W. de Klerk became South African president and set about dismantling apartheid. De Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC, suspended executions, and in February 1990 ordered the release of Nelson Mandela.
Mandela subsequently led the ANC in its negotiations with the minority government for an end to apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. In 1993, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. One year later, the ANC won an electoral majority in the country's first free elections, and Mandela was elected South Africa's president.
Mandela retired from politics in 1999, but remained a global advocate for peace and social justice until his death in December 2013.
Feb 11, 1778: Voltaire is welcomed home
On this day in 1778, some 300 people visit Voltaire following his return to Paris. Voltaire had been in exile for 28 years.
Born Francois-Marie Arouet to middle-class parents in Paris in 1694, Voltaire began to study law as a young man but quit to become a playwright. He made a name for himself with classical tragedies and also wrote poetry. In 1717, he was arrested for his satirical poem La Henriade, which attacked politics and religion. Voltaire spent nearly a year in the Bastille as punishment.
Voltaire's time in prison failed to dry up his satirical pen. In 1726, government disapproval of his work forced him to flee to England. He returned several years later and continued to write plays. In 1734, his Lettres Philosophiques criticized established religions and political institutions, and he was again forced to flee Paris. He retreated to the region of Champagne, where he lived with his mistress and patroness, Madame du Chételet. In 1750, he moved to Berlin on the invitation of Frederick II of Prussia and later settled in Switzerland, where he wrote his best-known work, Candide. After 28 years, he returned to Paris and was greeted by hundreds of intellectuals. He died in Paris in May 1778.
Feb 11, 1970: The world's fourth space power
From the Kagoshima Space Center on the east coast of Japan's Ohsumi Peninsula, Ohsumi, Japan's first satellite, is successfully launched into an orbit around Earth. The achievement made Japan the world's fourth space power, after the Soviet Union in 1957, the United States in 1958, and France in 1965.
Two months after Japan's launching of Ohsumi, China became the world's fifth space power when it successfully launched Mao 1 into space. The satellite, named after Mao Zedong, the leader of communist China, orbited Earth broadcasting the Chinese patriotic song The East is Red once a minute.
Feb 11, 1990: Underdog Buster Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson
In a major upset, Buster Douglas defeats Mike Tyson, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, in 10 rounds at a boxing match in Tokyo, Japan.
James “Buster” Douglas began boxing professionally in the 1980s and was considered a talented fighter, but it was believed he lacked the motivation to become a champion. By contrast, Tyson had become the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history when he defeated Trevor Berbick by knockout in 1986, when he was just 20 years old.
Nicknamed “Iron Mike,” Tyson intimidated other boxers with his fast, powerful punches. Going into the February 11, 1990, match with Buster Douglas, Tyson seemed invincible and was considered a 42-1 favorite to win. However, from the start, Douglas managed to dominate the fight. He was said to have been motivated by the pain of his mother’s death several weeks before the match. Tyson, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have his heart in the fight, although he knocked Douglas to the ground at the end of the eighth round. Douglas was able to get back up and went on to knock out Tyson and win the fight in the 10th round of the scheduled 12-round match. His victory was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
Douglas’s reign as heavyweight champ was short-lived. After defeating Tyson, he fought Evander Holyfield in October 1990. Douglas lost the fight in three rounds and afterward announced his retirement from boxing, although he staged a brief comeback in the late 1990s.
The loss to Douglas was the beginning of a long, downward spiral for Tyson: In 1992, he was convicted on rape charges and served three years in prison. In 1996, he won the World Boxing Council title but lost to Evander Holyfield later that year. During a 1997 rematch, Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear and was temporarily banned from boxing. In 2002, after instigating a pre-fight brawl with Lenox Lewis, Tyson’s Nevada boxing license was revoked. The match was moved to Memphis, where Tyson lost the fight. In 2003, despite having earned hundreds of millions of dollars, he declared bankruptcy and in 2006, he was arrested on drug charges.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
660 BC - Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by
Emperor Jimmu
55 - Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman
Emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome. This clears the way
for Nero to become Emperor.
385 - Oldest Pope elected; Siricius-bishop of Tarragona
824 - St Paschal I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1531 - Henry VIII recognized as supreme head of Church in
England
1543 - Battle at Wayna Daga: Ethiopian/Portugese troops beat
Moslem army
1543 - Karel/Henry VIII sign anti-French covenant
1575 - King Frederick of Denmark offers island of Hveen to
Tycho Brahe
1659 - The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten
back with heavy losses.
1720 - Sweden & Prussia sign peace (2nd Treaty of
Stockholm)
1766 - Stamp Act declared unconstitutional in Virginia
1768 - Samuel Adams letter, circulates around American
colonies, opposing Townshend Act taxes
1790 - Society of Friends petitions Congress for abolition
of slavery
1793 - Prussian troops occupy Venlo Neth
1794 - 1st session of US Senate open to the public
1808 - Anthracite coal 1st burned as fuel, experimentally,
Wilkes-Barre, Pa
1809 - Robert Fulton patents steamboat
1811 - President Madison prohibits trade with Britain for
3rd time in 4 years
1812 - Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a
redistricting bill - 1st "gerrymander"
Commercial Steamboat Inventor Robert FultonCommercial
Steamboat Inventor Robert Fulton 1814 - Norway's independence proclaimed
1826 - London University founded
1837 - American Physiological Society organizes in Boston
1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's Opera "La Fille du
Regiment," premieres in Paris
1843 - Opera "I Lombardi," premieres in Milan
1851 - 1st cricket 1st-class game in Australia, Tasmania v
Vic, Launceston
1852 - 1st British public female toilet opens (Bedford
Street London)
1854 - Major streets lit by coal gas for 1st time
1855 - Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of
Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam.
1858 - 1st apparition of Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of
Lourdes France
1861 - President-elect Lincoln takes train from Spingfield
IL to Wash DC
1861 - US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing
noninterference with slavery in any state
1873 - Spanish Cortes fires king Amadeus I
1878 - 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms
1878 - 1st weekly Weather report published in UK
1889 - Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet
convenes in 1890
1895 - -17°F (-27.2°C) in Braemar, Grampian (UK record)
1895 - Georgetown became part of Wash DC
Writer/Poet Oscar WildeWriter/Poet Oscar Wilde 1896 - Oscar
Wildes "Salome," premieres in Paris
1897 - White Rose Mission opens on East 97th Street, NYC
1898 - Owen Smith of NC, AME Zion minister, named minister
to Liberia
1899 - -15°F (-26°C), Washington, DC (district record)
1899 - -61°F, Montana (record low temperature)
1902 - Police beats up universal suffrage demonstrators in
Brussels
1903 - Anton Bruckner's 9th Symfonie premieres in Vienna
1905 - James Blackstone, Seattle, bowls 299½-last pin breaks
but stands
1905 - Pope Pius X publishes encyclical Vehementer nos
1907 - De Master's Dutch government resigns
1907 - Passenger ship Larchmont sinks by Block Island, 322
die
1908 - Australia regain the Ashes with a 308 run cricket
victory vs England
1908 - Heemskerk's government begins in Holland
1916 - Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its 1st concert
1916 - Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control
1919 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected president of Germany
1921 - Ambassador Theater opens at 215 W 49th St NYC
1922 - "April Showers" by Al Jolson hits #1
1922 - US intervention army leaves Honduras
1926 - Tokelau (Union) Islands in South Pacific transfers to
NZ
1927 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Beatrix
Loughran
1927 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Nathaniel
Niles
1928 - 2nd Winter Olympic games opens in St Moritz,
Switzerland
1929 - Eugene O'Neill's "Dynamo," premieres in NYC
1929 - Vatican City (world's smallest country) made an
enclave of Rome
1932 - 73°F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland
in February
1935 - -11°F (-24°C), Ifrane, Morocco (African record low)
1935 - 1st US airplane flight with auto slung beneath
fuselage, NY
1936 - Pumping begins to build Treasure Island in SF Bay
1937 - 44-day sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint
Mich ends
1938 - Steve Casey beats Lou Thesz in Boston, to become
wrestling champ
1941 - 1st Gold record presented (Glenn Miller-Chattanooga
Choo Choo)
German WWII Field Marshal Erwin RommelGerman WWII Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel 1941 - Lt-Gen Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli
1941 - Sicherheitsdienst complains about Dutch anti German
sentiments
1942 - "Archie" comic book debuts
1943 - General Eisenhower selected to command the allied
armies in Europe
1943 - Transport nr 47 departs with French Jews to
nazi-Germany
1944 - German troops reconquer Aprilia Italy
1944 - U-424 sunk off Ireland
1945 - 1st gas turbine propeller-driven airplane flight
tested, Downey, CA
1945 - Yalta agreement signed by FDR, Churchill & Stalin
1948 - Billy Griffith scores cricket century on debut Eng v
WI, out for 140
1948 - John Costello follows Eamon Da Valera as premier of
Ireland
1948 - Test Cricket debut of Frank Worrell, v England
Port-of-Spain
1949 - Willie Pep recaptures world featherweight boxing
title
1950 - "Rag Mop" by The Ames Brothers hit #1
1951 - Kwame Nkrumah wins 1st parliamentary election on Gold
coast (Ghana)
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1953 - "Hazel Flagg" opens at Mark Hellinger
Theater NYC for 190 performances
1953 - J Styne/B Hilliard's musical "Hazel Flagg,"
premieres in NYC
1953 - Pres Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Rosenberg
couple
1953 - Russia breaks diplomatic relations with Israel
1954 - 6th Emmy Awards: I Love Lucy, Donald O'Connor &
Eve Arden wins
1957 - KUMV TV channel 8 in Williston, ND (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1957 - NHL Players Association forms (NYC), Red Wings' Ted
Lindsay elected president
1958 - 1st flight with black stewardess, RC Taylor, Ithaca
NY
1958 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Chu En-lai as Min of Foreign
affairs
1958 - Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st Afr-American woman hired as
flight attendant
1958 - WTVC TV channel 9 in Chattanooga, TN (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1959 - Vinoo Mankad ends his final Test Cricket (v WI at
Delhi)
1960 - Jack Paar walks off his TV show
1961 - Robert Weaver sworn in with then highest federal post
by a black
1962 - Beatles record "Please, Please Me"
1963 - Beatles tape 10 tracks for their 1st album
1963 - CIA Domestic Operations Division created (pretty
scary!)
1963 - Julia Child's show The French Chef premieres.
1964 - Beatles 1st live appearance in US; Washington DC
Coliseum
1964 - Greek & Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus
1964 - Taiwan drops diplomatic relations with France
1965 - Braves propose to pay 5 cents from each ticket to
bring a new team to Milwaukee
1966 - SF Giant Willie Mays signs highest contract, $130,000
per year
1968 - Israeli-Jordan border fight
1968 - Jeffrey Kramer survives 76-m jump, Wash Bridge,
Hudson River NY
1968 - Madison Square Garden III closes Madison Square
Garden IV opens (NYC)
1969 - Diana Crump becomes 1st US woman jockey to ride
against men, Hialelah
1969 - Dorey Funk Jr beats Gene Kiniski in Tampa, to become
NWA champ
1970 - 26.37 cm (10.38") of rainfall, Mt Washington, NH
(state 24-hr rec)
1970 - Japan becomes 4th nation to put a satellite (Osumi)
in orbit
1970 - John Lennon pays £1,344 fines for 96 protesting South
African rugby team playing in Scotland
1971 - Montreal Canadien John Believau scores his 500th NHL
goal
1971 - US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing
nuclear weapons
1973 - 1st one-day international for Pakistan & NZ
1973 - 1st sub 17-min 1,500m female free style swim (Shane
Gould 16m56.9s)
1973 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Naples-Lely Golf Classic
1973 - Philadelphia 76ers lose their 20th NBA game in a row
1974 - Dick Woodson is 1st of 48 to invoke baseball's new
arbitration rule
1974 - Titan-Centaur Test launch fails
1974 - 1st baseball arbitration Twins pitcher Dick Woodson
seeking $29,000 wins, Twins offered $23,000
British Prime Minister Margaret ThatcherBritish Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher 1975 - Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for
Conservative leadership
1976 - Clifford Alexander Jr confirmed as 1st black
secretary of Army
1977 - 20.2-kg lobster caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest
known crustacean)
1978 - 16 Unification church couples wed in NYC
1978 - 25th hat trick in Islander history-Denis Potvin
1978 - China lifts a ban on Aristotle, Shakespeare, &
Dickens
1978 - EOKA organization disbands in Cyprus
1979 - "They're Playing Our Song" opens at
Imperial NYC for 1082 perfs
1979 - 43 million watch "Elvis!" on ABC
1979 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1979 - Iran's premier Bakhtiar resigns, Ayatollah Khomeini
seizes power
1979 - Musical "They're Playing Our Song,"
premieres in NYC
1981 - Australia all out 83 v India at MCG chasing 143 to
win
1981 - Polish premier Jozef Pinkowski replaced by Wojciech
Jaruzelski
1982 - Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton trade finally goes
through
1983 - "Weird Al" Yankovic records
"Ricky" & "Buckingham Blues" debut LP
1983 - 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18"(46 cm))
1984 - 10th space shuttle mission (41-B)-Challenger
4-returns to Earth
1984 - Wayne Gretzky sets NHL short handed season scoring
record at 11
1985 - Jordan king Hussein & PLO leader Arafat sign
accord
1985 - Kent Hrbek signs 5-year, $6 million contract with
Minnesota Twins
1985 - Wasim Akram takes 10 wickets in his 2nd Test Cricket,
NZ still wins
1986 - Activist Anatoly Scharansky released by USSR, leaves
country
1986 - Australia beat India 2-0 to win the World Series Cup
1986 - Iran begins Fajr-8 offensive against Iraq
1987 - British Airways begins trading stocks
1987 - England beat Australia 2-0 to win the World Series
Cup
1987 - Philippines constitution goes into effect
1987 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1988 - Anthony M Kennedy appointed to Supreme Court
1989 - Barbara Clementine Harris consecrated 1st female
bishop (Episcopalian)
1989 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Jill
Trenary
1990 - 40th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 130-113 at
Miami
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike TysonHeavyweight Boxing
Champion Mike Tyson 1990 - James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson in
10 to win heavyweight boxing crown
1990 - Nelson Mandela (political prisoner-27 years) freed in
South Africa
1990 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Todd
Eldredge
1991 - UNPO, Unrepresented Nations & People Org forms in
Hague Neth
1992 - F-16 jet crashes at residential district of Hengelo
Neth (No deaths)
1992 - Michael Johnson runs indoor world record 400m (44.97
sec)
1993 - Howard Stern's radio show begins transmitting to
Rochester NY (WRQI)
1993 - Irina Privalova runs world record 60m indoor (6.92
secs)
1993 - Janet Reno selected by President Clinton as US
Attorney General
1994 - Lu Parker, (South Carolina), crowned 43rd Miss USA
1994 - Space shuttle STS-60 (Discovery 18), lands
1995 - Danyon Loader swims world record 400m freestyle
(340.46)
1995 - Mark Foster swims world record 50m butterfly (23.55
sec)
1995 - Sandra Volker swims European record 50m backstroke
(27.67 sec)
1995 - Space shuttle STS-63 (Discovery 19), lands
42nd US President Bill Clinton42nd US President Bill Clinton
1995 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Todd Eldredge
1995 - West Indies score 5-660 against NZ
1996 - 46th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 129-118 at
San Antonio
1997 - Bill Parcells becomes head coach of NY Jets
1997 - STS 82 (Discovery 22) launches
1998 - KVBC-FM (Las Vegas) offers Monica Lewinsky $5M for
interview
1998 - Lyrics to "Candle in the Wind 1997,"
auctioned for $442,500
2007 - In Portugal, a national referendum legalizes
non-therapeutic abortion when requested by the woman during the first 10 weeks
of pregnancy.
2007 - 49th Grammy Awards: Not Ready To Make Nice, Carrie
Underwood wins
2008 - In East Timor, assassination attempts were made on
Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta. Both failed.
2011 - Egyptian Revolution culminates in the resignation of
Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after
18 days of protests.
2012 - Israel Air Force conducts four air strikes in Gaza
Strip
2013 - Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation from
February 28, the first pope to resign since 1415
2013 - 18 coal miners are killed in an explosion in the Komi
region, Russia
1752 - The Pennsylvania Hospital opened as the very first hospital in America. 1808 - Judge Jesse Fell experimented by burning anthracite coal to keep his house warm. He successfully showed how clean the coal burned and how cheaply it could be used as a heating fuel. 1812 - The term "gerrymandering" had its beginning when the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, signed a redistricting law that favored his party. 1858 - A French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes. 1878 - The first U.S. bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, was formed. 1929 - The Lateran Treaty was signed. Italy now recognized the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City. 1936 - Pumping began the process to build San Francisco's Treasure Island. 1937 - General Motors agreed to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union, which ended the current sit-down strike against them. 1940 - NBC radio presented "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street" for the first time. 1943 - General Dwight David Eisenhower was selected to command the allied armies in Europe. (Today in World War II History) 1945 - During World War II, the Yalta Agreement was signed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. (Today in World War II History) 1957 - The NHL Players Association was formed in New York City. 1958 - Ruth Carol Taylor was the first black woman to become a stewardess by making her initial flight. 1960 - Jack Paar walked off while live on the air on the "Tonight Show" with four minutes left. He did this in response to censors cutting out a joke from the show the night before. 1968 - The new 20,000 seat Madison Square Garden officially opened in New York. This was the fourth Garden. 1972 - McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. and Life magazine canceled plans to publish an autobiography of Howard Hughes. The work turned out to be fake. 1975 - Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to head a major party in Britain when she was elected leader of the Conservative Party. 1979 - Nine days after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran (after 15 years in exile) power was seized by his followers. 1982 - ABC-TV’s presentation of "The Winds of War" concluded. The 18-hour miniseries cost $40 million to produce and was the most-watched television program in history at the time. 1982 - France nationalized five groups of major industries and 39 banks. 1984 - The tenth Space Shuttle mission returned to Earth safely. 1989 - Rev. Barbara C. Harris became the first woman to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church. 1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity. 1990 - In Tokyo, Japan, James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the tenth round to win the heavyweight championship. 1993 - Janet Reno was appointed to the position of attorney general by U.S. President Clinton. She was the first female to hold the position. 2000 - The space shuttle Endeavor took off. The mission was to gather information for the most detailed map of the earth ever made. 2000 - Great Britain suspended self-rule in Northern Ireland after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) failed to begin decommissioning (disarming) by a February deadline. 2002 - The six stars on NBC's "Friends" signed a deal for $24 million each for the ninth and final season of the series. 2006 - In Texas, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a quail hunt. 2009 - John Dingell of Michigan became the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He had more than 53 years of service.
1805 Lewis and Clark's Shoshone guide Sacajawea gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste. 1809 Robert Fulton patented the steamboat. 1858 Saint Bernadette of Lourdes first saw a vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France, leading to the foundation of the shrine of Lourdes. 1929 Lateran Treaty was signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City. 1945 Yalta Agreement signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin during World War II. 1970 Japan became the fourth country to put a satellite into orbit. 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini's followers seized control of the Iran government. 1989 The Episcopal Church Boston diocese consecrated Barbara Harris as the church's first woman bishop. 1990 South African resistance leader, Nelson Mandela, was released from prison after more than 27 years. 2011 As a result of the Arab Spring protests, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak announces his resignation and hands power of the country over to the military. 2012 Pop star Whitney Houston died at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, the night before the annual Grammy Awards.
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/feb11.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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