October 3rd

1895 – US: Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage is published in book form. This popular novel about the Civil War questions the idea of “heroism” in wartime and critiques the popular definitions of “manhood” and “bravery.”

1920 – US: Physician and women’s rights activist Dr Marie Equi, arrested for speaking out against America’s involvement in World War I, is imprisoned at San Quentin, California to serve a three year term (which was later commuted to a year & a half).

1932 -- US: All 164 students of the Kincaid High School in Illinois walk out on strike after they discover that the school is being heated with coal from a company employing non-union labor.

1941 – India: In an interview Gandhi incites all subject peoples of the British Empire to rise up in nonviolent resistance and refuse to do work for their colonial overseers.

1945 -- US: Greyhound bus workers in seven states go on strike for better wages and working conditions.

1961 – Russia: After demonstrating in San Francisco, traveling to Europe, and walking all the way to Moscow, a group of anti-nuclear activists demonstrates in Red Square against nuclear weapons.

1965 -- US: President LBJ signs Public Law 89-236, amendments to the Immigration & Nationality Act. For the first time the US now considers Asians equal to Europeans in immigration matters. Great numbers of Asians eventually enter the US under this provision.

1970 -- US: Baseball umpires go on strike for the first time in history. (All jokes about “strikes” in baseball are appropriate here)

1981 -- Ireland: A seven month hunger strike by Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, ends today. Ten people die in the course of the strike in the name of Irish independence.

1990 – Germany: East & West Germany become a united & sovereign state for the first time since Germany's defeat in WWII, burying 45 years of Cold War division. Nearly a million people gather at the Reichstag in Berlin, & at midnight a replica of the Liberty Bell, a gift from the US, is rung, officially proclaiming reunification.

1990 -- Burma: Buddhist sects opposing the military government are outlawed.

1991 -- Haiti: General Strike is called against the military government in Puerto Principe.