The people of #PuertoRico have sought freedom for a very long time. On #ThisDayInHistory in 1868, in the #GritoDeLares/#LaresRevolution, they first rose up against #Spanish #colonial rule. That the US simply replaced Spain as overlord is an injustice that still needs a solution.

On this day in history, September 23rd, 1777, the Liberty Bell was removed from Philadelphia and sent to Allentown, Pennsylvania. The British had won the Battle of Brandywine and were marching into Philadelphia to take over the city.

#thisdayinhistory #libertybell #allentown #america #philadelphia

Having taken #bribes and been caught, #RichardNixon, candidate for #VicePresident, used the new medium of #television on #ThisDayInHistory in 1952 for his #CheckersSpeech, complained he needed the extra money to run, and said he was keeping the #CockerSpaniel given him as a gift.

The #ColoradoCoalfieldWar began as a strike launched on #ThisDayInHistory in 1913 by #UnitedMineWorkers of America. It lasted seven months, with 70+ killed (up to 199) in violence both by and against workers. The #strike failed as #union money ran out and workers were #disarmed.

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1970 was born #AniDiFranco, one of the best modern folk singers & political songwriters. Her songs can be highly personal, and address #feminism, #racism, and the inequalities of #capitalism with boldness & style. Here's a good one:
zurl.co/H1kXv

The #KarlstadTreaty between #Norway & #Sweden was signed on #ThisDayInHistory in 1905. Once ratified, King Oscar II renounced his dynasty's claim on Norway in October, and the personal union linking the countries was dissolved. This is a model for peaceful #secession negotiation.

The bosses need the workers, not the other way around. On #ThisDayInHistory in 1969 London's waste workers went on #strike. Weeks of garbage piled up until the workers got a 15% pay rise. How well we live is in our hands – we have the power to build a more equitable society. #IWW

theoffkeybard.com/bards-desk/h...

#GamingHistory #ThisDayInHistory #Nintendo #VideoGames #TheOffKeyBard #BardsDesk (3/3)

Just as later the US would, the UK backed the restoration of French colonial rule in #Vietnam, and on #ThisDayInHistory in 1945 her soldiers butchered hundreds, burnt large parts of #Saigon to the ground and disarmed #VietMinh militants who had fought against Japanese occupation.

The inaugural #FarmAid concert was held in Illinois on #ThisDayInHistory in 1985, inspired by the #LiveAid show a few months earlier. Organized by #NeilYoung, #WillieNelson, & #JohnMellencamp, it benefited family farmers, and featured sets by #BobDylan, #BillyJoel, and many more.

#UnionOrganizing and #strikes frequently work but setbacks and failures abound as well. In 1919 on #ThisDayInHistory the #GreatSteelStrike was launched by an #AFL coalition of 24 #unions fighting to unionize #USSteel. Sadly, the insufficiently radical effort collapsed in January.

👇 Read the full story on The Bard's Desk:

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#AmericanHistory #ThisDayInHistory #CivilWarHistory #EmancipationProclamation #TheOffKeyBard #BardsDesk (4/4)

The tale of #JosephSmith's #GoldenPlates is seen by scholars as mere fraud, but remains a point of faith for the #LDSChurch. He claimed to have found them in #NewYork hill on #ThisDayInHistory in 1823, after being directed there by the #AngelMoroni. No evidence for them exists.

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1846 a deeply #racist editorial in #TheTimes argued the potato blight & #GreatFamine/#GreatHunger were a "blessing", as a bit of starvation would cure #Ireland of "indolence". Blaming the colonized for their state is a weak rationalization for imperialism.

Modern #soldiers are conditioned to blind loyalty & obedience to prevent events like that at #DobroPole on #ThisDayInHistory in 1918, when #Bulgarian forces mutinied. Deserting troops formed an army and elected officers. Nearly every power fighting in #WorldWarI faced #mutinies.

The #Holocaust in the occupied #SovietUnion was carried out mainly by #Einsatzgruppen – roving bands of killers. On #ThisDayInHistory in 1941, on #RoshHaShanah, Nazi forces finished in #Vinnytsia, #Ukraine, by killing another 6,000 Jews (atop the 24,000 killed a few days prior).

Cheered on by the US & UK, #Iraq invaded #Iran on #ThisDayInHistory in 1980, sparking the eight-year-long #IranIraqWar. The chief incentive for #Baathist Iraq was fear of its own #Shia majority taking inspiration from the #IranianRevolution to overthrow its secular #dictatorship.

This rectangular paper dinner menu from the North German Lloyd ocean liner KAISER WILHELM II is dated September 21, 1910. The cover bears an illustration of a cotton plantation scene in the US American south, with two workers riding on horseback. #MaritimeHistory #OTD #OnThisDay #ThisDayInHistory

From the 1880s to the 1950s Americans played a carnival 'game' throwing balls at #Black people. #ThisDayInHistory in 1908 a man in Pennsylvania was struck rapidly, "pretty well used up", "with internal injuries which may prove fatal." Photo from a 1942 #YMCA summer camp brochure.