September 17th

1179 – Germany: Hildegard of Bingen, a prolific writer, scientist, philosopher, and early feminist, dies. In addition to her writing, she is notable for having founded two women's communities.

1778 -- US: Federal government enters into first treaty it made with Native Americans.

1787 -- US: Constitution is ratified by two-thirds of the colonies and adopted. Although occasionally violated by administrations past and present, it remains a model for democratic and peaceful conflict resolution.

1890 -- US: United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) miners union issues a strike call to its 9,000 members. Within one week, 125,000 hard-coal coal miners are off their jobs and 96% of coal mine production ceases until demands for better pay and working conditions are met.

1894 -- US: The first George Bernard Shaw play produced in US, "Arms & the Man," opens in NY. The play is a satirical critique of both war and love.

1900 -- US: 100,000 Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners go on strike. In response, management replaces English-speaking workers by workers from 20 different nations. Suspicious of each other, they appeared almost impossible to organize. But led by Johnny Mitchell in 1898, the United Mine Workers quietly began a renewed campaign.

1934 -- US: Today Southern employers meeting in Greenville, North Carolina, ready to launch a violent response to striking workers. An army of 10,000 National Guardsmen was mobilized in Georgia & the Carolinas, Alabama, and Mississippi, supplemented by 15,000 armed deputies. Despite the threat of all of this military power, the strikers refuse to go back to work, and 20,000 more miners join the strike.

1938 -- US: Washington State CIO labor forms.

1961 -- England: Thousands of protestors take part in a sit-down against nuclear bombs in Trafalgar Square, London. Police arrest 1,314 of them.

1961 – Congo: United Nations General Secretary Dag Hammarskjold dies in a plane crash. He had been on the way to negotiate a cease-fire between warring parties in the region. He received the Nobel Peace Prize later that year, having been nominated before his death.

1980 -- Poland: Solidarity forms a national independent labor union federation. The Solidarity movement winds up orchestrating a successful nonviolent revolution over the next few years, overthrowing the oppressive Communist government through a series of strikes and demonstrations.

1983 -- West Germany: 3,000 protestors demonstrate against nuclear power in Hamm-Uentrop.

1989 -- US: 98 miners and one minister occupy the Pittston Coal Company's Moss III preparation plant in Carbo, Virginia, beginning a year-long strike against Pittston Coal.

1990 -- Philippines: President Corazon Aquino, having taken power in a nonviolent revolution against the US-supported dictator Ferdinand Marcos, now publicly calls for withdrawal of US military forces.

1995 -- Canada: Negotiators successfully resolve an armed standoff between police and Canadian Indians protesting at a private ranch Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia.

1997 -- Sweden: An international draft treaty banning antipersonnel mines is signed in Oslo. The USA, however, refuses to sign on. (to be fair, President Clinton does agree to destroy 1 million land mines, but the treaty called for more to be eliminated)