December 7, 1941 - Pearl Harbor Bombed by the Japanese

Aerial photo of U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941 a swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes descended onto the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a brutal bombing attack. This U.S. naval base was located on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Many believe that Japan partook in this horrific event because the “United States cut off the shipment of oil and other raw materials to Japan after they joined forces with Nazi Germany, and took over all of Indochina” (1). And since the nation’s government knew that Japan was very poor in natural resources they took this as a threat to the survival of their country. F.D.R and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable with the diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Japan breaking down. With having this “feeling” of an attack by Japan F.D.R did not increase security at the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, the most important naval base.

At precisely 7:55 a.m. Hawaii Time, Japan unleashed a massive surprises air attack on the U.S. Pacific Naval Fleet. According to The History Channel website, “five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to repulse the attack. Japan's losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men.” Because of this horrific attack on American soil, which isn't something we were used to, Americans viewed war a lot differently. American’s acted quickly towards wanting war and supporting the war effort. Due to the fact that this attack happened so close to home states on the West coast, such as Oregon California, and Washington practiced blackout routines as precautions. This cause American’s to unite, come together and protect their homeland. America was affected psychologically as well. After the attack on Pearl Harbor the people and the news made Japanese-Americans out to be villains. We then forced these people into internment camps. America was so irate that it took advantage of these people’s rights, took them from their homes, and put them in unhealthy, inhabitable camps.

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a very short, very powerful speech to Congress and than asked them to support the declaration acknowledging the state of war between the United States and Japan. The Senate voted for war against Japan by 82 to 0, and the House of Representatives approved the resolution by a vote of 388 to 1 (2). The speech FDR gave was on national radio and also broadcasted in schools. This would eventually lead to Germany and Italy, allies with Japan, to declare war against the United States. At the end of FDR’s 6-minute speech he says, “We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God." This is statement is virtually what makes Congress agree to the declaration and gets American support.

- Joe E. and Anthony S.


1. Department of Defense. 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemorative Committee. Pearl Harbor: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Chronicle, "A Grateful Nation Remembers" 1941-1991. Washington: The Committee, 1991, http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-1.htm (accessed Nov 27, 2013).
2. “Pearl Harbor bombed,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pearl-harbor-bombed (accessed Nov 27, 2013).

December 6, 1907 - Monongah Coal MIne Disaster

On this day 106 years ago, one of the most devastating accidents in American history occurred in an uprising ( at the time ) town of Monongah, West Virginia. It is still recorded to this day to be the worst coal mining accident to ever occur in United States history. A total of 362 men were reported dead after this horrible disaster.

Coal mining at that time period was some of the only work some Americans and European immigrants could find. The working conditions were beyond awful which also led to some of the worst possible types of dangers including cave-ins (when walls and mineshafts have not been properly secured ), fires, chemicals leakage, gas explosions, and electrocution. These men and children were simply just looking for money and put the poor working conditions and life threatening situations behind them.

Around 10:20 am on the morning of December 6, 1907 an enormous rumbling and bomb-similar sound struck the 3,000 people living in the town of Monongah. The community came together as one and created teams of rescue workers as soon as possible to assist the people trapped under these mines. Rescue parties included almost the entire town and a good amount of other people and workers from other small towns were quick onto help with this disaster. Mineshafts numbers 6 and 8 were where the methane gas exploded and it all went downhill from that point on. There were stories told about this disaster that you could hear this explosion “from 8 miles away” which is very impressive in a sense. Immediately as this was occurring, the ventilation fans were tumbling from all the falling rock, timber, debris which created an instant problem for the number of people trapped down in these mines and that was the simple cause of breathing in these deadly gases and chemicals. Poor oxygen levels in these mines was already a major issue of the working conditions, but this explosion made the oxygen situation much worse.

Considering the fact that this chemically infused area was already a horrible place to work, rescue teams and other people assisting the accident could only help the victims for a maximum of 15 minutes at a time. This was due to the poor protection against these harmful chemicals that they did not have. Even the people helping needed medical attention immediately after helping in this incident. Two days after the explosion, the disaster worsened when fires broke out slowing down the process of moving forward. Cleaning up the mess continued for days, but little by little and with help from all around the state of West Virginia, the mess was finally cleaned up 6 days later on the date of December 12th, 1907.

Later on in the investigation in October a Catholic priest and miner activist who lived in the area Everett Francis Briggs stated that the estimate of the people that died in this tragedy was closer to about 500 people. This accurate estimate was brought to the nation’s attention from the works of Davitt McAteer who was the secretary for the Mine Safety and Health Administration at this time period. Overall, there were many theories about the cause of this tragedy including ideas such as the combinations of dust and gas, or the simple fact of coal dust being brought up and to slow down this process the miners would water it down. The conclusion was finalized by the jury on January 16th, 1908 and they had come to in the investigation of what had truly happened was that according to the post that Maureen K. Fluery had posted about the incident was that the “explosion was caused by a blowout shot or by the igniting and explosion of powder.” Disasters like these occur all the time in the United States by in the world of mining, but this one has gone down in history was the worst ever.

- Luke M. and Troy S.

References :

Fleury, M. (2013, December 2). The Monongah West Virginia Mining Disaster, December 1907. Retrieved from http://suite101.com/a/the-monongah-west-virginia-mining-disaster-december-1907-a285143

The Pump Handle. (2007, December 7). 100 Years Ago Today: Deadliest US Coal Mine Disaster. Retrieved from http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/100-years-ago-today-deadliest-us-coal-mine-disaster

WVgazette.com. (2007). Monongah. Retrieved from http://www.wvgazette.com/News/Monongah

December 5, 1955 - Start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a famous social protest that opposed racial segregation. The boycott started on December 5, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama sparked by Rosa Parks’ famous bus stand, not giving her seat up on a segregated bus to a white man. The Rosa Parks incident occurred on December 1, 1955 and raised a lot of conflict in the city for the next few days. On December 5th the African-American residents of Montgomery, led by Martin Luther King Jr., made it known that they would not be riding the buses until they were made desegregated. This boycott was the first of many attempts to abolish segregation throughout the nation.

The south had historically been known for African-American discrimination, lynchings, and violence, occurring there since the end of the Civil War. Therefore, for the Civil Rights Movement to make a big step in America in the 1950s and 60s, a large, public “statement” would have to be made somewhere in a heavily segregated region. A handful of arrests had been made earlier that year with African Americans not abiding by the bus law, but none were as powerful as Rosa Parks’. After her arrest, the African Americans’ decision to not use the city’s public transportation system sparked an everlasting effect. Martin Luther King Jr., who became a popular leader through this event, with other local leaders, originally believed only half of the African-American city population would support the boycott; however, they were shocked when over 90% boycotted the bus system [1]. Alternative options were developed as African Americans carpooled, rode bikes, or simply walked [1]. This caused the city’s bus system to lose thousands of dollars in revenue and almost go out of business [2]. This boycott also spread nationally, as television was becoming a popular household item and people around the country could hear about the boycott. Other southern cities followed as they took on boycotts of their own.

Martin Luther King Jr., among others, preached that this boycott should remain non-violent, and it did. However white southerners brought violence, as they wanted to prevent African-Americans from gaining equal rights. King’s house was bombed as well as four black churches in the months that followed the boycott [2]. City officials sought to jail the leaders of the boycott as a statement to the government’s resilience, and jailed King, however the boycott continued. Montgomery’s African-American residents stood behind their leaders.

After a Supreme Court decision, African-Americans could
board at the front of the bus for the first time.

Continuing through December of 1956, the Montgomery Bus Boycott had a lasting effect on America and the Civil Rights Movement. The Supreme Court desegregated public transportation on November 15, 1956, as this issue was put to rest legally [1]. Also, locally the court case Browder v. Gayle declared the Alabama state bus segregation laws unconstitutional. During the boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. stepped in as a famous figurehead for the movement. Following the event King said “We came to see that, in the long run, it is more honorable to walk in dignity than ride in humiliation. So … we decided to substitute tired feet for tired souls, and walk the streets of Montgomery.”


- Ryan R. and Percell D.



[1] “Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)” Martin Luther King Jr. and The Global Freedom Struggle. Accessed 28 November, 2013, http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_montgomery_bus_boycott_1955_1956/
[2] “54b. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott” U.S. History, A New Civil Rights Movement. Accessed 28 November, 2013, http://www.ushistory.org/us/54b.asp
[3] “Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott” Wesleyan University. Accessed 27 November, 2013, http://www.wesleyan.edu/mlk/posters/rosaparks.html

December 4, 1867 - Oliver Kelley Founded the Grange

Oliver Kelley founded the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry in 1867. The organization, better known as the Grange, formed as a secret society meant to educate farmers. Periods of drought and excessive rain, high shipping costs due to railroad monopolies, and poor farming practices frustrated farmers’ ambitions. Many farmers, particularly in the Midwest, functioned at a substance level. Kelley had grown up in Boston, but at the age of 21 moved to Minnesota to begin a career in farming. He had no experience, but he educated himself and became an advocate of new scientific farming techniques. He published many articles in national newspapers and kept meticulous records. Kelly’s work led to a clerk position in the US Department of Agriculture in 1864. He kept his farm active and spent his winters in Washington, DC.(1)

The Department of Agriculture sent Kelly to the postwar South in order to assess the state of the

region’s agriculture. As a northerner in the South he expected poor treatment and resistance. Fortunately his membership in the Free Masons transcended regional differences and impressed upon Kelley the value of secret societies. The Grange was a natural extension of his belief in the importance of education and community. By April 1868 Kelley had begun to organize Granges outside of Washington, DC, beginning in New York and spreading to other states. At first membership was quite low but once Kelley returned to Minnesota he became more confident in his pitch.

Women were involved in the Grange as equals from the beginning. This egalitarian characteristic is

usually attributed to Caroline Hall, Kelley’s niece. She wrote him a letter stating, “Your organization will never be permanent if you leave the women out.” The founders thought women should be “helpmeets” to their husbands by becoming the primary educators and moral stewardess of the     family.(2)

Although it was founded as an educational society the Grange became a powerful political tool for farmers during the Panic of 1873. The Granger Laws, early regulations on banks and railroads, were their greatest success. The laws limited the cost of transporting and storing grain.(3)

In 1885, the national session of the Grange formally supported women’s suffrage noting, “We are

therefore prepared to hail with delight any advancement of the legal status of women, which may give to her the full right of the ballot box, and an equal condition of citizenship.”(4)

- Valarie S. and David P.

1. Dorothy W. Hartman "Conner Prairie Interactive History Park." GrangeMovement.

http://www.connerprairie.org/LearnAndDo/IndianaHistory/America18601900/GrangeMovement.aspx (accessed December 1, 2013)

2. Dorothy W. Hartman

3. Jennifer D. Keene and Saul Cornell. Visions of America: a history of the United States. 1. ed.

Boston u.a: Prentice Hall, 2009.

4 Hartman

December 3, 1964 - the Berkeley 800 were Arrested

On this day in history, almost 800 college students were arrested by three police officers for protesting. The students found support in the protesting form the Freedom of Speech Movement. The vigorous determination from these students caused an immediate halt in the Berkeley campus. Many unconstitutional regulations and rules about politics and social ideas that were made by the university were the reason why these protests and arrests were made. At the beginning, these 800 students marched into Sproul Hall destined to make an impact. Freedom of Speech Movement leader spoke in front of the court building showing utmost moral support. He stated that the students could bring the University to a "grinding halt." The students were extremely persistent in their protest.

On December 3rd, 1964, 800 students participated in a protest sit-in at the University of California at Berkeley. Eventually, the University staff got fed up with the protest, so they continued campus regulations and shut down the building normal time (7pm). So, the students protesting were stuck inside. However, the news of this protest quickly spread nationwide. Many students from other schools such as Harvard and other Massachusetts colleges negotiated with police to allow other Berkeley students to give supplies to the protesting persons. Even though these students purposely locked themselves inside the hall, a huge impact and statement was being made to Berkeley's staff and board.

As midnight came about on the night of December 3rd, 1964, police were ready to take action. Governor Brown informed California police about the protesting students at Berkeley University, and that action must be taken in order to end the brigade. Finally, Chancellor Edward Strong, the head administrative officer at Berkeley University, politely asked the protesting students to leave the building and continue on with their lives. Eventually, after the students refused to comply, the police took action and slowly began to arrest all 776 students that were inside the building. Ironically, faculty members of Berkeley University were protested the use of police on campus by sending Governor Brown a telegram expressing their opposition.

The protesting Berkeley students showed great support of the Freedom of Speech Movement. They felt that the political restrictions on campus handicapped all of their individual voices. Since the US has always been a democratic country, every US citizen has a vote in politics. This event showed and proved that American people take value in their vote, and feel that we deserve absolute freedom.

- Nate G. and Dot L.

December 2, 1980 - American Nuns Kidnapped, Raped & Murdered by U.S. Trained Salvadoran Death Squad

The Four American Women

This story begins in El Salvador a third world country located in Central America that borders Guatemala and Honduras on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other (2). These three countries are considered to be three of the top five most dangerous countries in the World. El Salvador is home to the third highest murder rate in the world at 51.83 per 100,000. Its neighbors to the north Honduras and Guatemala own the highest and fourth highest murder rates, Honduras (first) with 60.87 and Guatemala (fourth) with 45.17. To help put in perspective of how these numbers are the murder rate in the United States is 5.22 and the World average homicide rate is 9.63 (3).

On the evening of December 2, 1980 4 American were slain in cold blood by an El Salvadoran murder squad. Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel were on their way from the airport where Maura and Ita had just arrived from Nicaragua. The 4 women were pulled from their car at gunpoint, raped and murdered. Their bodies were simply tossed to the side of the road. The original report to the public was that the 4 women were victims of a horrible robbery. This was a lie and an easy one to pass off to newly elected President Reagan. The Salvadorans knew from top to bottom who was responsible for this horrid crime. They knew who ordered, and carried it out. The catch to this is we also knew who

The Slain Bodies of the American Women

was responsible, we knew the names of everyone involved but we did what some would call “turned a blind eye” to it. We did this because there was at the time a greater cause at hand. We were well aware of the brutal methods of the Salvadoran military, in fact this was the reason these murders were overlooked because President Reagan was more concerned with defeating the uprising in the impoverished third world country that he viewed as a threat to the United States, then bringing the men responsible for this crime to justice (5).

It’s because of these actions by our former President that these brutal murders are considered one of the most notorious in the history of the Western Hemisphere.

- Jack R. and Jenna S.

December 1, 1913 - Ford Motor Company Begins Using the Moveable Assembly Line

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Ford Motor Company introducing the movable assembly line to the world. This invention completely revolutionized the way that business and production were conducted across the entire globe and its effects are still evident in society today. Many would be surprised when finding out the place of inspiration for Henry Ford’s world changing idea was a Chicago meatpacking store[i]. This meat packing store had a disassembly process in place and upon seeing this, Ford made the connection and applied the reverse process to his own company. Prior to Ford’s revolutionary concept of bringing parts to employees, the product (specifically the Model-T), was stationary on a table and teams and groups of workers moved from one table to another to build or add on one piece to any specific Model-T. While production techniques needed to be refined, it was quite clear from the start that this new method was going to greatly reduce costs and time of production. The two foundations of this new method were the concepts of interchangeable parts and division of labor[ii]. These two new techniques were both the foundation and the driving force behind the rise of Ford Motor Company’s modernization of the production industry.

While production skyrocketed and seemed to be a great idea from the outside, these new methods took a toll on the factory workers. Previously, workers had a variety of tasks and were constantly moving from place to place to achieve goals along the production line. This style kept work fresh and kept employees engaged. In the new system, employees were stuck in one spot, preforming one function all day long. It made work mundane, caused frustrations, and gave workers back aches. Ford and his engineers slowly worked out the kinks to make work easier for employees and to create a better work environment. One of the most shocking changes that Ford introduced was doubling in the salary that workers received. Henry Ford was an innovator and truly looked after his workers with their best interests in mind. He was a master at achieving maximum production while satisfying the needs of his laborers simultaneously.

Henry Ford, and his introduction of the assembly line to his company, successfully made the car an accessible item to even the most low-income families. Similar to the likes of Steve Jobs, Henry Ford was one of the greatest visionaries in American history. These two men took their respective products, the computer and the automobile, two items known to only wealthy Americans, and made them attainable for those from all walks of life. Ford is directly credited with the revolution of the assembly process, but should be given more credit for his work in effectively altering the course of human history for the better.

- Nick M. and Matthew G.



[i] "Ford Installs First Moving Assembly Line." PBS.org. PBS, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013
[ii] "Ford Motor Car Company History." The Assembly Line. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013