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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December 1903
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Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and Henri Bequerel are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie Curie becomes the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
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December 1, 1933
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The Nazi party, the NSDAP, becomes the state party in Germany: the only political party permitted to exist.
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December 1, 1955
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Rosa Parks (a seamstress and civil rights activist) refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and is arrested. Parks is not the first to defy the law, but her arrest sparks the successful year-long Montgomery Bus boycott, which eventually brings an end to segregation on buses.
At the time of her action, Parks was a member of the NAACP, and earlier in 1955 she had taken part in courses at the Highlander School where non-violent civil disobedience was discussed.
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December 1985
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The Manoir Richelieu dispute begins in Quebec when the Parti Quebecois sells the publicly owned Manoir Richelieu, a tourism heritage site, to a private owner. The new owner repudiates the existing contract with the unionized workforce of 350 workers, leading to a two-year labour struggle during which one worker dies at the hands of police. It is eventually revealed that the union, the CNTU, has been infiltrated by the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, which has been working to manipulate events. The dispute ends with the 350 workers losing their jobs.
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December 1994
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Mexican economic crisis begins.
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