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General Benjamin O. Davis |
Uluru – (Ayers Rock) |
October 23, 1850: The first National Women’s Rights Convention is held in Worcester, Massachusetts. The first National Convention marked the beginning of the organized movement for women’s rights and called for the total reorganization of “all social, political, industrial interests and institutions.” Frederick Douglass, Paulina Wright Davis, Abby Kelley Foster, William Lloyd Garrison Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth attended. A strong alliance with the Abolitionist Movement is formed. The convention elected officers who were appointed to committees on education, civil and political rights, social relations, and avocations. Its final resolution, which called for “Equality before the law without distinction of sex or color,” was highly controversial because of its shocking support of equality for black women. The convention was applauded by a few local and national newspapers, but disparaged by most of them. The issues raised at the convention, however, were heard throughout the world. It became a touchstone for international feminism, inspiring coverage and essays in France, England, and Germany. Jeanne Deroin and Pauline Roland, two French socialist-feminists who were imprisoned in Paris for their political activities, praised the brave efforts of Worcester’s women in a letter to the second National Woman’s Rights Convention in 1851. Addressing the “Convention of the Women of America,” they proclaimed: “your socialist sisters of France are united with you in the vindication of the right of Woman to civil and political equality” www.wwhp.org/Resources/whyworcester.html www.nwhm.org/education-resources/history/woman-suffrage-timeline
Oct. 25, 1940, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first African American to hold star rank in the U.S. Army and in the armed forces. He was promoted to brigadier general, temporary — a situation with which he was all too familiar, as his promotions to major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel had all originally been "temporary." He was retired on July 31, 1941, and recalled to active duty with the rank of brigadier general the following day. He was assigned to the European Theater of Operations in September 1942 on special duty as Advisor on Negro problems and upon completion of this special duty he returned to the United States and resumed his duties in the Inspector General’s Department.
In November 1944 he became Special Assistant to the Commanding General, Communications Zone, European Theater of Operations, stationed in Paris, France. General Davis retired on 14 July 1948, after having served fifty years. General Davis died on November 26, 1970. His remains are interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. His son, Lieutenant General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., (U.S. Air Force, Retired), is the fourth African American graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and the nation’s second African American general officer.www.defense.gov/specials/africanam2003/srdavis.html
October 26, 1985: Australian government returns Uluru (Ayers Rock) to the local Pitjantjatjara (Anangu) Aborigines. In November 1983, the Australian Prime Minister announced the intention of the Commonwealth Government to grant title of Uluru National Park to the Aboriginal traditional owners with a lease-back of the area to the Director of National Parks and Wildlife, in accord with the wishes of the traditional owners. Freehold title was handed over to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Aboriginal Land Trust on October 26, 1985. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The local Anangu do not climb Uluru because of its great spiritual significance. They request that visitors do not climb the rock, partly due to the path crossing a sacred traditional Dreamtime track, and also due to a sense of responsibility for the safety of visitors. The visitors guide says "the climb is not prohibited, but we prefer that, as a guest on Anangu land, you will choose to respect our law and culture by not climbing."
