Mar. 18. 1871: 1,000 women successfully blockade cannons in what becomes the Paris Commune. 1937: Women clerks occupy Woolworth's store in New York City to demand 40-hour week. (Remember Woolworth's? Remember 40-hour weeks?) 1972: A congressional study announces that the income gap between the richest 20% and the poorest 20% in the U.S. had doubled since 1952.

Mar. 19. 1965: 48 arrested in New York City protesting Chase Manhattan Bank loans to South Africa. 1978: 50,000 march in Amsterdam to protest U.S. deployment of the neutron bomb in Europe.

Mar. 20. 1896: U.S. marines invade Nicaragua.

Mar. 21. 1961: South African police kill 89 in Sharpeville and other towns during protests of apartheid pass laws. 1965: Civil rights marchers from Selma arrive in Montgomery, Alabama. 1995: The state of Mississippi ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which outlaws slavery except for prison inmates.

Mar. 22. 1989: Exxon Valdez dumps its load. Prince William Sound, Alaska.

Mar. 24. 1956: Danilo Dolci and 22 others are tried in a Sicily court for trying to repair a road without proper government authorization. An idea for certain Seattle neighborhoods? 1962: 1,172 arrested in sit-down against nuclear weapons, Parliament Square, Britain.