Selma-Montgomery march began with ‘Bloody Sunday’

On March 7, 1965, 525 civil rights activists began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Just outside Selma, heavily armed police and deputies broke up the march with billy clubs and tear gas, injuring 65 people and hospitalizing 17 in a melee that became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

After federal court protection had been secured, 3,200 marchers started out again on March 21. By the time they reached Montgomery on March 25, their numbers had swelled to 25,000. Learn more about the Selma-to-Montgomery March from the US National Parks Service, which preserves the route as a National Historic Trail.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Massachusetts instituted death penalty for heresy

On November 4, 1646, the Massachusetts General Court approved a law requiring all members of the colony to recognize the Bible as the Word of God, under penalty of death.  

Israel PM Yitzhak Rabin assassinated

On November 4, 1995, Yigal Amir shot and killed Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in response to the Oslo Accords peace agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Amir was tried and given a life sentence for the murder. Learn more about the trial of Yigal Amir from the New York Times.