Events - Browse By Category - Human Rights

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Caracalla grants citizenship to all men
212
Human Rights, Roman Empire
Quakers in Pennsylvania & New Jersey publish tracts condemning slavery
1754
Human Rights, United States
Abigail Adams supports the equality of men and women
1764
Human Rights, United States
Lord Mansfield frees a slave--the beginning of the emancipation movement
1772
Human Rights, United Kingdom
Georgia & South Carolina are the only states legally importing slaves from Africa
1776
Human Rights, United States
French declare the universal rights of man
1789
Human Rights, France
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes "Vindication of the Rights of Women"
1792
Human Rights, Europe
Fugitive Slave Act makes criminal assisting runaway slaves
1793
Human Rights, United States
Britain abolishes slave trading in the empire, but slavery remains legal
1807
Human Rights, United Kingdom
William Lloyd Garrison publishes first issue of the Liberator
1831
Human Rights, United States
Slavery Abolition Act forbids slavery In the British Empire
1833
Human Rights, United Kingdom
Factory Act reduces the number of hours that children are allowed to work
1833
Human Rights, United Kingdom
Cherokees sign Treaty of New Echota
1835
Human Rights, United States
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself
1845
Human Rights, United States
Fugitive Slave Act requires all escaped slaves to be returned to the slaver
1850
Human Rights, United States
Republican Party forms in opposition to slavery
1854
Human Rights, United States
John Brown raids Harpers Ferry to obtain weapons for slave rebellion
1859
Human Rights, United States
Tsar Alexander II emancipates the serfs despite opposition of nobility
1861
Human Rights, Russia
President Lincoln issues emancipation proclamation to start 1/1/1863
1862
Human Rights, United States
In November, President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address
1863
Human Rights, United States
Geneva Convention protects wounded soldiers and medical personnel in war
1864
Human Rights, Global
In December, U.S. Constitution is amended to abolish slavery
1865
Human Rights, United States
Modernization of Japan begins with the Meiji Restoration--the end of feudalism
1868
Human Rights, Japan
Chinese Restriction Act of 1882 follows California Gold Rush
1882
Human Rights, Global
Slavery abolished in Brazil under the reign of Pedro II, an enlightened king
1888
Human Rights, Brazil
New Zealand is first country in which women can vote in national elections
1893
Human Rights, Austral Realm
United States Immigration Act limits Mexicans, Chinese, and Japanese
1907
Human Rights, United States
Only about 3% of Mexicans own land in 1910
1910
Human Rights, Mexico
Suffragette Emily Davidson sacrifices life for cause at Derby horse race
1913
Human Rights, United Kingdom
Women gain vote in United States
1920
Human Rights, United States
In November, Nazi gangs attack Jewish communities in Germany & Austria
1938
Human Rights, Europe
In September, Nazis kill about 34,000 Jews of Kiev in the massacre at Babi Yar
1941
Human Rights, Europe
Anne Frank & her Jewish family are discovered hiding in Amsterdam office building
1944
Human Rights, Netherlands
Nuremberg War Trials--Goring commits suicide but 10 other leaders are hanged
1946
Human Rights, Europe
Afrikaner National Party wins elections in South Africa--white supremacy rules
1948
Human Rights, South Africa
Universal Declaration of Human Rights is proclaimed by United Nations
1948
Human Rights, Global
Japanese war criminals on trial--General Tojo and others executed
1949
Human Rights, Japan
Rosa Parks sits in the front of the bus--the end of bus segregation in the U.S.
1955
Human Rights, United States
In March, South African massacre at Sharpeville is condemned by world leaders
1960
Human Rights, South Africa
In February, Macmillan challenges South African Parliament to change policy
1960
Human Rights, Global
Israeli court tries Eichmann for war crimes
1961
Human Rights, Israel
Saudi Arabia abolishes slavery
1962
Human Rights, Saudi Arabia
Martin Luther King Jr. gives "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial
1963
Human Rights, United States
Mandela found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment
1964
Human Rights, South Africa
A parliamentary messenger kills South African Prime Minister Verwoerd
1966
Human Rights, South Africa
In April, Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated
1968
Human Rights, United States
In Warsaw, German chancellor Willi Brandt kneels in homage to Nazi victims
1970
Human Rights, Europe
Supreme Court legalizes abortion in Roe versus Wade
1973
Human Rights, United States
Soweto uprising in South Africa--school children killed
1976
Human Rights, South Africa
Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist, dies in police custody in South Africa
1977
Human Rights, South Africa
Lech Walesa creates Solidarity and leads strikes in Gdansk shipyard
1980
Human Rights, Poland
British miners end 51 week strike and admit defeat
1985
Human Rights, United Kingdom
Nelson Mandela is freed and end of apartheid is in sight
1990
Human Rights, South Africa
Indigenous people of Latin America mourn the 500-year anniversary of Columbus
1992
Human Rights, Americas
Rwandan genocide of Tutsis follows assassination of president
1994
Human Rights, Rwanda
Democracy triumphant in South Africa after its first multiracial elections
1994
Human Rights, South Africa
UN convenes meeting in Beijing to promote women's rights
1995
Human Rights, Global
Milosevic, former president of Serbia, is tried for war crimes
2002
Human Rights, Serbia
Saddam Hussein dies by hanging after Iraqi court convicts him of crimes
2006
Human Rights, Iraq
Ethnic violence in China: 187 killed & 2,000 arrested in Xinjiang
2009
Human Rights, China
Khmer Rouge leaders are found guilty of crimes against humanity
2014
Human Rights, Cambodia
Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic found guilty of genocide
2016
Human Rights, Serbia