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Respect for antiquity is uncommon in world history. The #Acropolis in #Athens was still in remarkably good condition when, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1687, the #Parthenon was blown up by #Venetian bombardment. The #Ottomans stored gunpowder in it during the #MoreanWar with #Venice.

Armies throughout history are well known for pillaging and the British Army is a prolific offender. During the #CrimeanWar on #ThisDayInHistory in 1854, her troops ransacked #Crimean port town #Balaklava/#Balaclava, with soldiers stealing all they could carry, furniture included.

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1961, #Black farmer #HerbertLee was shot in the head, in public, before dozens of witnesses, by #Mississippi state legislator #EHHurst just for registering Black voters. Hurst claimed 'self-defence' against the unarmed Lee, and was acquitted the same day.

American author and activist #bellhooks was born into a #WorkingClass #Black family in still-#segregated Hopkinsville, #Kentucky, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1952. In her dozens of books, she reflected on #pedagogy, #intersectionality, #capitalism, and #gender, among other subjects.

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1789 the US Congress passed twelve new #ConstitutionalAmendments. The first two failed ratification (though one, the Congressional Compensation Amendment, was finally ratified in 1992). The remaining ten amendments are commonly called the #BillOfRights.

#PalestinianAmerican scholar #EdwardSaid died on #ThisDayInHistory in 2003. A #LiteraryCritic, early developer of #PostColonialTheory, and a professor of #ComparativeLiterature at #ColumbiaUniversity from 1963 until his death, Said helped draw attention to the #Palestinian cause.

In the #MazePrisonEscape, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1983, thirty-eight #IRA prisoners at #MazePrison in #CountyAntrim hijacked a prison meals lorry and fought their way to freedom, injuring 21 corrections officers (and another died of a heart attack), seriously embarrassing the UK.

#ThomasAshe, a veteran of the #EasterRising against the British, was killed in #MountjoyPrison in 1917 on #ThisDayInHistory. His boots and bed had been confiscated, and he was on #HungerStrike to demand #PrisonerOfWar status. He died of complications from barbaric #ForceFeeding.

On this day in history in 1738, American Founding Father Nicholas Van Dyke was born

You can learn more about Van Dyke in our blog: buff.ly/DhIhdLT

#thisdayinhistory #foundingfather #america #delaware

#TonyBlair, the right-wing #Labour leader at the time, threatened #JeremyCorbyn with expulsion from the #LabourParty on #ThisDayInHistory in 1996 for inviting #SinnFéin leader #GerryAdams to meet. That Adams had already met with #BillClinton and #NelsonMandela went unremarked.

TODAY IN HISTORY: SEPTEMBER 24, 1969
The Chicago 8 trial opened. Eight antiwar organizers were charged with crossing state lines to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention.

#ThisDayInHistory #Chicago8

The #Milwaukee14, a group of fourteen #Catholic #AntiWar activists inspired by the #CantonsvilleNine, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1968 removed 10,000 files from their #draft board & burnt them with home-made #napalm. Most served at least a year in prison for this #CivilDisobedience.

#LittleRock mayor #WoodrowWilsonMann asked Pres. #Eisenhower to send in federal troops to enforce the #desegregation of schools. Eisenhower invoked the #InsurrectionAct on #ThisDayInHistory in 1957, using the Army and a federalized #ArkansasNationalGuard to protect #Black kids.

Think countries like #Canada give a damn about #FreeSpeech? No nation-state has a good record on it. In 1918 on #ThisDayInHistory the #IWW was outlawed in Canada. Their crime? Opposition to the #FirstWorldWar and the killing fields to which the #WorkingClass were shipped to die.

During the #OccupyWallStreet protests in #NYC, on #ThisDayInHistory in 2011, #NYPD engaged in its usual brand of #PoliceBrutality, with pigs using #PepperSpray on four women with no provocation, then violently assaulting members of #GrannyPeaceBrigade and arresting journalists.

The #AugustFrankMemorandum, from 1942 on #ThisDayInHistory, put the lie to that #SS commander's claim at the #NurembergTrials that he did not know of the #Holocaust. It gave detailed orders about how to distribute the clothing and possessions of murdered Jews to German colonists.

In an action this world needs far more of, but which is made harder by #nationalist #indoctrination, on #ThisDayInHistory in 2003 a group of 27 #IDF pilots sent a joint letter refusing to take part in #assassination missions against #Palestinians in the #WestBank and #GazaStrip.

#WinstonChurchill doubled down on his #racist and #genocidal policy during the #BengalFamine on #ThisDayInHistory in 1943, vetoing the sending to #India of food stores been set aside for a cancelled attack into #Greece, saying they'd be wasted on the "anyway under-fed Bengalis".