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Halloween Timeline: How the Holiday Has Changed Over the Centuries

Halloween’s origins can be traced back to antiquity. Most point to Samhain, a Celtic festival which commemorated the end of the harvest season and the blurring of the physical and spirit worlds, as Halloween’s forebear. Over the ages, the holiday evolved, taking on Christian influences, European myth and American consumerism. Today, Halloween is celebrated with […]

Before JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald Tried to Assassinate a Former Army General

Oswald’s would‑be victim on April 10, 1963, was an ultra‑conservative firebrand named Edwin Walker.

Aberfan disaster kills 144 people and levels a Welsh mining village

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A nurse prepares the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine a public housing project pop-up site targeting vulnerable communities in Los Angeles, California on March 10, 2021.

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2021 Events

COVID‑19’s Continued Toll As the year began, the nation was still firmly in the grip of COVID‑19, the novel coronavirus that first emerged in late December 2019 and spread around the world in 2020, prompting lockdowns, a global recession and upheaval on an unprecedented scale. In what became a record for the fastest vaccine development […]

The Assassination of Malcolm X

Civil rights leader Malcolm X took the stage at the Audubon Ballroom in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan on February 21, 1965. Just minutes later, shortly after 3 p.m., the former prominent Nation of Islam figure was gunned down by three men as his wife, Betty Shabazz, pregnant with twins, and four daughters took […]

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Origins of AAPI Heritage Month The effort to officially recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander contributions to the United States began in the late 1970s, and took over 10 years to make it a permanent month‑long celebration. In 1977, New York representative Frank Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 540, which proposed proclaiming the first 10 […]

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

After Roe v. Wade In the January 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court, in a 7‑2 vote, ruled that abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy was a constitutional right protected by the 14th Amendment. The ruling included a trimester framework in which it was left to a woman and her doctor […]

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George Washington: Greatest Challenges

After George Washington took the oath of office on April 30, 1789 in New York City, he faced a variety of leadership challenges, both foreign and domestic.

LBJ, Before the War on Poverty

LBJ spent time after college teaching impoverished Mexican‑American immigrants on the border of Texas and Mexico, an experience that shaped his personality and presidential ambitions.

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The Illnesses JFK Hid from the Public

John F. Kennedy is remembered in part for his youth and good looks, but did you know that during the 1960 presidential campaign JFK was seriously ill and needed testosterone treatments?

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Black Gold

The team joins forces with a rag‑tag group of park rangers who are trying to stop the destruction of Congo’s most critical national forest. Rebel crime units are cutting down the forest to manufacture charcoal and killing anyone who gets in their way. The park is the last holdout for rare mountain gorillas: and it’s […]

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Crowds gather for the The Harlem Cultural Festival on June 29, 1969.

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Why the Watershed 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival Was Overshadowed for 50 Years

The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival brought over 300,000 people to Harlem’s 20‑acre Mount Morris Park from June 29 to August 24, 1969 against a backdrop of enormous political, cultural and social change in the United States. The summer concert series featured huge acts, including B.B. King, Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone. Organized by a 30‑something […]

How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland

For 30 years, Northern Ireland was scarred by a period of deadly sectarian violence known as “the Troubles.” This explosive era was fraught with car bombings, riots and revenge killings that ran from the late 1960s through the late 1990s. The Troubles were seeded by centuries of conflict between predominantly Catholic Ireland and predominantly Protestant […]

Why Did the Beatles Break Up?

The four Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—changed music forever in a relatively brief timespan, bursting onto the scene in 1963 with “Please Please Me” and recording their last albums, “Let It Be” and “Abbey Road,” in 1969. The foursome came together as teenagers and became superstars by their early 20s, sharing […]

Soviet Union Leaders: A Timeline

The Soviet Union had eight leaders during its existence from 1922 to 1991. Unlike countries in which a president or prime minister is the designated head of state, the leaders of the USSR mostly assumed power by becoming the head of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party, in addition to any other roles they may have […]

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1966

1960s

Featured Articles

Halloween Timeline: How the Holiday Has Changed Over the Centuries

Before JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald Tried to Assassinate a Former Army General

Aberfan disaster kills 144 people and levels a Welsh mining village

Topics

2021 Events

The Assassination of Malcolm X

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Videos

George Washington: Greatest Challenges

LBJ, Before the War on Poverty

The Illnesses JFK Hid from the Public

Black Gold

Stories

Why the Watershed 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival Was Overshadowed for 50 Years

How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland

Why Did the Beatles Break Up?

Soviet Union Leaders: A Timeline

This Day in History

Aberfan disaster kills 144 people and levels a Welsh mining village

Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” is published

Iconic photo of Che Guevara taken

Delano Grape Strike begins

Golda Meir elected as Israel’s first female prime minster

Protesters disrupt the Miss America Pageant