A Focus on History: December 1 through December 7

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December 1

The Ford Motor Company introduces the continuous moving assembly line which could produce a complete car every two-and-a-half minutes. – 1913.

African American Rosa Parks refuses to go to the back of a Montgomery, Ala. bus, to add fuel to the growing civil rights movement’s campaign to win desegregation and end the deep South’s “Jim Crow” laws. – 1955.

Shortly after 11 a.m., 132 feet below the English Channel, workers drill through a wall of rock and connect an underwater tunnel, Chunnel, which links Great Britain with the European mainland of France. It took almost 13,000 workers four years to complete the 95 miles of tunnels which cost $15 billion. – 1990.

December 2

In Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in 1,000 years. – 1804.

The Enron Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New York City court to spark one of the largest corporate scandals in the U.S.. Enron’s collapse cost investors billions of dollars, wiped out approximately 5,600 jobs, and liquidated almost $2.1 billion in pension plans. – 2001.

Court documents filed in Boston reveal Walmart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $40 million to 87,500 Massachusetts employees who claimed the retailer denied them rest and meal breaks, manipulated time cards, and refused to pay overtime. – 2009.

December 3

An explosion at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India leads to the worst industrial accident in history. More than 2,000 persons die and another 200,000 were injured when toxic gas enveloped the city. – 1984.

December 4

Heavy smog begins to hover over London, England. It persists for four days and leads to the deaths of at least 4,000 residents. – 1952.

Black Panthers Fred Hampton, 21, and Mark Clark, 22, are gunned down by 14 police officers when asleep in their Chicago apartment. Approximately 100 bullets had been fired in what police described as a fierce gun battle with members of the Black Panther Party. However, ballistics experts later determined that only one of those bullets came from the Panthers. In addition, the so-called bullet holes in the front door of the apartment, which police pointed to as evidence that the Panthers had been shooting from within the apartment, actually were nail holes created by police in an attempt to cover up the attack. – 1969.

Islamic militants in Lebanon release kidnapped American journalist Terry Anderson after 2,454 days in captivity. – 1991.

December 5

A fire at the Brooklyn Theater in New York City kills nearly 300 individuals and injures hundreds more. Some victims perished from a combination of burns and smoke inhalation; others were trampled to death in the general panic that ensued. – 1876.

Unionists John T. McNamara and James B. McNamara were sentenced to 15 years and life, respectively, after confessing to dynamiting the Los Angeles Times building during a drive to unionize the metal trades in the city. Twenty died in the bombing. The newspaper was strongly conservative and anti-union. – 1911.

The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified to repeal the 18th Amendment and bring an end to the era of National prohibition of alcohol in The U.S.. – 1933.

December 6

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, officially ending the institution of slavery, is ratified: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” – 1865.

In Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid on top of a tower of white marble to complete the construction of an impressive monument to the city’s namesake and the Nation’s first president, George Washington. – 1884.

A Belgian steamer and French freighter, both loaded with ammunition, explode in Canada’s Halifax Harbor to level part of the town and kill nearly 1,600 persons and injure approximately 8,000. The eight million tons of TNT carried by the ships was intended for use in World War I. – 1917.

December 7

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings, appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes follow and descends on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II. – 1941.

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