Dec. 9. 1966: 700 Tuskegee (Alabama) Institute students riot after acquittal of a white for killing a black student. 1981: Black Philadelphia journalist and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal is arrested and charged with the shooting of a Philadelphia policeman. 1992: U.S. Marines wade ashore in Somalia at 2 A.M. (on live evening network television in the U.S.) in "Operation Restore Hope." U.S. forces would retreat in disarray and disgrace within the year.

Dec. 10. 1906: IWW sponsors first sit-down strike in U.S., at a General Electric plant in Schenectady, New York. 1948: United Nations passes Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1967: The first "commercial" atomic bomb is detonated under the New Mexico desert as part of an experiment in natural gas recovery. 1992: Indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work opposing U.S.-sponsored military dictatorships and genocide in Guatemala.

Dec. 11. 1961: First U.S. air cavalry helicopter units arrive in Vietnam. 1964: Anti-Castro protesters attempt to assassinate Che Guevara during his speech at the United Nations in New York City. 1986: U.N. agency UNICEF, promoting child education, established. The program becomes a center of U.S. refusal to pay its U.N. dues, with the U.S. claiming that UNICEF programs were socialist and anti-American.

Dec. 12. 1912: Senator Hiram Johnson (R-CA) denounces U.S. invasion of revolutionary Russia. 1973: Women members of United Steelworkers of America (Local 1066) protest sex discrimination, Gary, Indiana. 1979: NATO decides to deploy cruise and Pershing missiles across Europe. Annual protests follow. 1982: 30,000 women encircle U.S. cruise missile base, Greenham Common, Britain.

Dec. 13. 1917: Denmark recognizes right to conscientious objection to military service.

Dec. 14. 1890: Socialist scholar and labor organizer Daniel De Leon born. 1917: U.S. peace activist and suffragist Kate Richards O'Hare jailed five years for speech denouncing World War I. 1972: Pres. Nixon authorizes Christmas bombing of Hanoi. 1985: The wonderfully surnamed Wilma Mankiller is sworn in as Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, becoming the first woman (and one of the most outspoken leaders) to head a major U.S. tribe in recent history. 1992: 300,000 coal workers strike against "Solidarity" government, Poland.

Dec. 15. 1791: Bill of Rights ratified as first ten amendments to U.S. Constitution. Numerous modern polls have shown that, with questions couched in law and order terms, most Americans oppose the Bill of Rights. 1923: President Calvin Coolidge releases 31 World War I conscientious objectors still imprisoned five years after the end of the war. 1960: U.S. backs right wing coup in Laos. 1970: Pres. Nixon signs the Taos Land Bill. 48,000 acres of land are returned to the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, the first U.S. legislation ever to return a sizable amount of federal land to the Native Americans from whom it was stolen.