NewsInHistory Blog

Malcolm X, the fiery and controversial Black activist and leader, was assassinated by three Black Muslims as he was giving a speech in New York City on Feb. 21, 1965. The next day, Jules Loh, an Associated Press reporter, published an interview he had conducted with Malcolm X on March 26, 1964, during which the activist discussed his own possible assassination—but insisted Loh not publish his remarks. After Malcolm X’s murder, Loh felt freed of his promise and published this article the next day. read more...

Pioneers on the Oregon Trail traveled through Indian country. While some of these encounters were peaceful, many were violent. Newspapers at the time printed lurid accounts of “bloodthirsty savages” attacking peaceful families, but occasionally a different point of view was presented. Such is the case with the following letter, printed in the July 26, 1852, issue of the Daily Missouri Republican (St. Louis, Missouri): read more...

The protest march on Washington, a staple of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and an accepted form of demonstration today, received its inauguration on March 25, 1894, when socialist reformer Jacob S. Coxey led a group of unemployed laborers to the nation’s capital to demand economic aid from Congress. The official name of his group was the “Commonweal in Christ,” but it is better known as “Coxey’s Army.” read more...

At 12:04 on the morning of March 24, 1989, the huge oil tanker Exxon Valdez smashed into Bligh Reef, ripping holes in its hull and spilling 10.9 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine waters of Alaska’s Prince William Sound. At its greatest extent oil covered 1,300 square miles. It was not the largest oil spill in history, but it occurred in an area teeming with life and had devastating environmental consequences. read more...

The most moving accounts we have from the Civil War are often the letters soldiers wrote to their loved ones during that great conflict. When one of those letters was published by the writer’s home paper, the emotional response went beyond the soldier’s family to the greater community—Macon, Georgia, in the following example. This letter, simply titled “A Soldier’s Letter,” was written on March 24 and published in the May 7, 1862, edition of the Macon Weekly Telegraph: read more...

When Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) by huge margins in first the House and then the Senate (the Senate vote taking place on March 22, 1972), it seemed that 50 years of hard work by women’s rights advocates had finally come to fruition. The ERA simply stated: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Only one hurdle remained: 38 states had to ratify the ERA within seven years; the deadline was March 22, 1979. read more...

On March 22, 1972, 50 years of hard work by women’s rights activists finally paid off when Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). As soon as 38 states ratified the amendment within the next seven years, the U.S. read more...

By the time Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., led the third—and, this time, successful—Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march, the press knew this was a big story. The first march, on March 7, 1965, was stopped by police violence; the Alabama state and local police beat up the 600 peaceful marchers in Selma, injuring dozens and sending 17 to the hospital. The horrific pictures and news stories of this “Bloody Sunday” police rampage shocked the nation, and especially grabbed the attention of President Lyndon Johnson. read more...