Dec. 19. 1842: US recognizes Hawai'ian independence. 55 years later, the US would unilaterally annex Hawai'i instead.

Dec. 20. 1990: Reservist Dr. Yolanda Huet-Vaughn refuses orders for Gulf War, Kansas. She is later sentenced to prison, and the Kansas medical board strips Huet-Vaughn of her license to practice, because of her conscientious objection.

Dec. 21. 1892: Birth of Rebecca West, London. Writer, feminist, critic; companion for 10 years of author and socialist H.G. Wells. "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute."

Dec. 22. 1943: Four month strike by 23 conscientious objectors ends dining hall segregation at Danbury Federal Penitentiary, Connecticut.

Dec. 23. 1972: About 350 anti-war protesters march through stores in the downtown Seattle shopping district.

Dec. 24. 1913: 72 miners' children killed in panic caused by a company stooge at Calumet, Michigan. 1955: Writer, pacifist, and political radical Aldous Huxley ("Brave New World") takes his first acid trip.

Dec. 25. 1914: Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops engaged in WWI stop firing their guns and artillery, and commence singing Christmas carols. At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerge from their trenches and approach the Allied lines across no man's land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first the Allied soldiers suspect it to be a trick, but they too soon climb out of their trenches and shake hands with the German soldiers. The men exchange presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sing; the Christmas Truce lasts a few days.

Dec. 26. 1894: Birth of African American novelist Jean Toomer. Known as part of the "Harlem Renaissance."

Dec. 27. 1763: A troop of 50 armed men enter the Workhouse at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and hatchet to death the only 14 surviving Conestoga Indians (the rest of the tribe having been similarly dispensed with 13 days earlier).

Dec. 28. 1863: Russia: Nihilists annihilate Chief of Police. 1879: Birth of long-time Seattle labor leader Jimmy Duncan.

Dec. 29. 1939: Madeleine Pelletier dies. French doctor and feminist, member of the Socialist Party, later a Communist, then an anarchist. A pioneer of abortion rights, she was condemned in 1939 for practicing abortions--declared irresponsible for her acts and committed to a mental asylum, where she died. Ironically, she had begun her career as a psychiatrist.

Dec. 30. 1946: Birth of singer/poet Patti Smith. 1972: Pres. Richard Nixon orders end to North Vietnamese bombing. For the first time, B-52 pilots had refused to fly missions.

Dec. 31. 1958: The Cuban guerrilla columns of Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara take Yaguajay and the city of Santa Clara. The next day, Cuban dictator Juan Batista would flee the island, and on Jan. 2 Fidel Castro's victorious forces would march into Havana.

Jan. 1. 1804: Haitian slaves, led by Jean Jacques Desalines, declare independence. U.S. refuses to recognize Haiti for the next 70 or so years. 1960: The Man in Black--singer/ex-convict Johnny Cash--plays San Quentin, the first of many concerts he will perform for prison inmates.