July 25. 1856: George Bernard Shaw lives. Irish dramatist, literary critic, a socialist spokesman, and leading figure in the 20th century theater. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. He accepted the honor but refused the money.

July 26. 1874: Order given that friendly Indians were to remain in fixed camps at Wichita Agency, Oklahoma (Indian) Territory, and answer periodic roll calls. 1990: Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) becomes law.

July 27. 1919: Racial violence erupts in Chicago when a black youth crossed an unseen color line at the 29th Street Beach and was drowned by rock-throwing whites. 28 eventually killed, and at least 500 were injured.

July 28. 1591: Anne Hutchinson banished from Boston because of her independent religious views. 1869: Women shoemakers found Daughters of St. Crispin, one of the earliest national women's unions, in Lynn, Mass., to demand equal pay.

July 29. 1895: First National African American women's meeting, Boston, Mass. 1981: Both houses of Congress pass Reagan's tax-cut legislation. The bill, the largest tax cut in the nation's history, was expected to reduce taxes by $37.6 billion in fiscal year 1982, and save taxpayers $750 billion over the next five years.

July 30. 1973: Grand Opening of Left Bank Books Collective, Seattle, WA (split-off from Red and Black Books Collective before it had even opened).

July 31. 1969: A Moscow police chief reports that thousands of telephone booths have been made inoperable by thieves who have stolen phone parts in order to convert their acoustic guitars to electric.

Aug. 1. 1938: Hilo Massacre: 51 longshoremen, racially mixed, and union supporters in Hilo, Hawaii are gassed, hosed, bayoneted, and shot in the back by police.

Aug. 2. 1855: Black River band of Chippewa sign treaty to compensate Chippewa for destruction of their homes by construction of the 500 Locks (Great Lakes). The Chippewa have yet to be paid. 1931: Albert Einstein urges all scientists to refuse military work.

Aug. 3. 1931: Chicago eviction riots leave 3 dead; 60,000 march for anti-eviction laws.

Aug. 4. 1875: The Convention of Colored Newspapermen begins, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1988: Congress votes $20,000 to each Japanese-American interned in WW II.

Aug. 5. 1892: Harriet Tubman gets a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spy, and scout during the Civil War. She, along with Sojourner Truth, Susie King, and almost 200 other African-American women, served as nurses during the war at 11 hospitals in 3 states.

Aug. 6. 1945: US drops atomic bomb on civilian population of Hiroshima, Japan. An estimated 140,000 die from the immediate effects of the bombing; tens of thousands more in subsequent decades from radiation-induced illnesses. 1985: USSR begins unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing. US responds by conducting more underground nuclear tests. In 1998 the US will express moral outrage at India and Pakistan for similar tests.

Aug. 7. 1960: Students stage kneel-in demonstrations against segregation in Atlanta churches. 1970: Four, including presiding judge, killed in courthouse shootout in San Rafael, California. Police charge Angela Davis provided weapons.