Seeds of Fire: A People’s Chronology

Recalling events that happened on this day in history.
Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.

Compiled by Ulli Diemer

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January 1, 1788
Birth of Etienne Cabet (1788-1856), French philosopher and utopian socialist, founder of the Icarian movement.
January 1, 1804
Haiti declares itself a free republic. Haiti becomes the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained through a successful slave rebellion.
Related Topics: HaitiHaitian RevolutionSlave Revolts
January 1, 1818
Publication of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.
January 1, 1831
William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first issue of The Liberator, calling for the immediate abolition of slavery. There are 400 copies of the first issue, printed in the middle of the night using borrowed type.
Related Topics: AbolitionismAnti-Slavery
January 1, 1851
Henry Bibb founds The Voice of the Fugitive, an abolitionist newspaper which is the first black-owned newspaper in Canada.
Related Topics: AbolitionismAnti-SlaveryBlack Canadians
January 1859
Karl Marx finishes writing A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. An intended third chapter, on capital, which Marx hopes to complete “soon”, appears eight years later, as Das Kapital.
January 1, 1863
Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation takes effect, slaves in the Confederate States declared free.
January 1, 1959
Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro overthrow the Batista dictatorship.
Related Topics: CubaRevolutionary Moments
January 1, 1983
44 women break into a missile base at Greenham Common.
January 1, 1994
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect and in Mexico, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation launches a rebellion, occupying the town of San Cristobal de las Casas.



January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December
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For more information about people and events in Seeds of Fire, explore these pages: