TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 27
425 Theodosius effectively founds a university in Constantinople.
1700 The Pacific Island of New Britain is discovered.
1801 The city of Washington, DC, was placed under congressional jurisdiction.
1827 The first Mardi-Gras celebration is held in New Orleans.
1861 In Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland. Five protesting marchers were killed in the incident.
1865 Confederate raider William Quantrill and his bushwackers attack Hickman, Kentucky, shooting women and children.
1908 The forty-sixth star is added to the U.S. flag, signifying Oklahoma’s admission to statehood.
1920 The United States rejects a Soviet peace offer as propaganda.
1925 Glacier Bay National Monument is dedicated in Alaska.
1932 The neutron is discovered English physicist James Chadwick was later awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery.
1933 The burning down of the Reichstag building in Berlin gives the Nazis the opportunity to suspend personal liberty with increased power.
1938 A new design was created to use as Pontiac’s mascot. This particular mascot design was created by Chris Klein and C. Karnstadt. It was of the theme of an Indian maiden, which was inspired by connections with the General Motors (GM) war chief who was employed in the GM manufacturing division.
1939 The Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes.
1943 An explosion at the Montana Coal and Iron Company mine trapped and killed 74 miners.
1943 Non-violent protests in Berlin prevent the deportation of 2000 jews The “Rosenstrasse protest” was carried out by the “Aryan” wives and relatives of detained Jewish men
1969 Thousands of students protest President Richard Nixon’s arrival in Rome.
1973 U.S. Supreme Court rules that a Virginia pool club can’t bar residents because of color.
1973 More than 200 members from the American Indian Movement moved in to take the reservation area of Wounded Knee by force beginning an occupation that lasted until May.
1974 “People” magazine was first issued by Time-Life (later known as Time-Warner).
1981 Chrysler Corporation was granted an additional $400 million in federal loan guarantees. Chrysler had posted a loss of $1.7 billion in 1980.
1982 Wayne B. Williams was convicted of murdering two of the 28 black children and young adults whose bodies were found in Atlanta, GA, over a two-year period.
1988 Debi Thomas becomes the first African American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics.
1991 Coalition forces liberate Kuwait after seven months of occupation by the Iraqi army.
1997 Divorce becomes legal in the predominantly catholic country of Ireland.
1997 New legislation banning most handguns in Britain went into effect helping to make the strictest gun legislation in the world with self-defence not considered a valid reason to own a gun.
2002 A Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims
2006 The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Middle-east to be nuclear weapons free. Following talks with Kuwaiti leaders, Ahmadinejad said that nuclear weapons were a threat to the area’s stability.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
