This Week in History...

December 1, 1955: Montgomery, Ala.

This day was a defining day in the Civil Rights battle as well as the nation. One woman made a large difference in America. Rosa Parks, returning home from a long day of work, boarded a bus and sat in the first row. She refused to give up her seat to a white person. She was later arrested, as this was a crime in parts of our country in 1955. Eventually the battle led to the Supreme Court, which decided against racial segregation in public transportation.

December 2, 1942: Chicago, Ill.

In a secret laboratory hidden below Stagg Field, the football stadium at the University of Chicago, the first man-made atomic chain reaction from uranium ore was created by the Manhattan Project research team. Three years later, this technology was used to a devastating effect to end the Pacific battle of World War II, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Our world still remains under the threatening shadow of the nuclear age.

December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Japanese warplanes led an attack on Pearl Harbor, 60 years ago today. Over 2,000 Americans lost their lives as the United States was thrust into the midst of World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt abandoned his campaign that “our boys” would not fight overseas. Until Sept. 11 of this year, America had not witnessed that many lives lost in one day.