Martyrs’ Day: Riots over Sovereignty of Panama Canal Zone (1964)

Martyrs’ Day is a Panamanian holiday commemorating the 1964 riots that began after a Panamanian flag was torn in a conflict between Panamanian and Canal Zone students over the right of the Panamanian flag to be flown alongside the US flag. US Army units became involved in suppressing the violence, and 4 soldiers and more than 20 Panamanians were killed. The incident contributed to the US decision to transfer control of the Canal Zone to Panama. When was full control of the canal given to Panama? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Black Nazarene Fiesta

The Fiesta of Quiapo District is the largest festival in Manila, Philippines. It is held each year in honor of the Quiapo District’s patron saint, the Black Nazarene, a life-sized statue of Jesus carved from blackwood, whose shrine is located in Quiapo’s baroque church. The traditional nine-day fiesta features nightly cultural events, band concerts, and fireworks. On the last day of the festival, January 9, there is a procession of barefoot men pulling a carriage that holds the 200-year-old statue on the way to Calvary. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Richard Halliburton (1900)

Halliburton was an American adventurer and pioneer of adventure journalism. He liked to recreate historical and legendary feats in his travels, such as Hannibal’s passage over the Alps on an elephant and Odysseus’s journey around the Mediterranean, and made his living writing and lecturing about his experiences. He is, however, perhaps best known for having swum the length of the Panama Canal. He disappeared while attempting to sail a Chinese junk, the Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to where? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Rabbit-Proof Fence

When Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits onto his Australian farm in 1859, he was unaware of the damage they would cause to the Australian ecosystem. Within 35 years, the rabbits, which had no natural predators in Australia, spread throughout the mainland and destroyed millions of acres of farmland. In 1901, construction began on a fence that would traverse Western Australia from north to south and was intended to contain the rabbits east of the barrier. What animal was used to inspect the fence? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Innocent III Becomes Pope (1198)

Lotario di Segni became Pope of the Catholic Church in 1198 at the age of 37, taking the name “Innocent III.” He believed that just as things of the spirit take preeminence over things of the body, so should earthly monarchs be subject to the pope, and he set out immediately to realize this ideal. He was the virtual overlord of Christian Spain, Scandinavia, Hungary, and the Latin East and launched the Fourth Crusade, which went awry when the crusaders did what instead of going to the Holy Land? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Battle of New Orleans Day

When British soldiers attacked near the Chalmette plantation outside New Orleans on January 8, 1815, they were met by a ragtag army of militiamen, sailors, and pirates fighting from behind barricades. The defending US troops were led by General Andrew Jackson, whose stunning victory—the British suffered some 2,000 casualties, while the Americans lost only eight men—made him a national hero. This day remains a legal holiday in Louisiana, where it is also known as Jackson Day or, in honor of Jackson’s nickname, as Old Hickory’s Day. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Emily Greene Balch (1867)

Balch was an American economist and sociologist who taught at Wellesley College until her dismissal in 1918 for opposing US involvement in World War I. She was a co-founder, along with Jane Addams, of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and served as its international secretary from 1919 to 1922. In 1946, she shared the Nobel Peace Prize with longtime YMCA leader John R. Mott. Balch was among the first graduates of what American college in 1889? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary