Aug. 28. 1955: Emmett Till, a Detroit teenager visiting relatives in Mississippi, is tortured and killed for allegedly talking to a white woman in an "improper" way. The questionable trial that followed, and Mrs. Till's decision to display her son's mutilated remains during an open-casket funeral, help to mobilize opposition to segregation in America. Later immortalized in a song by Bob Dylan.

Aug. 29. 1970: Three die in East Los Angeles when an anti-war march turns into a riot during Chicano National Moratorium. Thousands of Chicanos gather at Laguna Park in East LA to protest disproportionate number of deaths of Chicano soldiers in Vietnam. LAPD attack. One shot, fired into Silver Dollar Bar, kills Ruben Salazar, LA Times columnist and commentator on KMEX TV (accused by LAPD of inciting the Chicano community).

Aug. 30. 1968: During Democratic convention riots, Chicago police's finest invade the headquarters of anti-war presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, dragging staffers from their beds and beating them. CBS anchor Walter Cronkite tells prime-time television viewers (quote): "I want to pack my bags and get out of this city."

Aug. 31. 1895: First issue of Julius Wyland's Kansas-based socialist newspaper, An Appeal to Reason, is published.

Sep. 1. 1989: White House staffers decide to purchase some crack cocaine so Pres. Bush can hold the illegal drug in his hands during a national address. But on the first attempt, the drug dealer didn't show up. On the second try, an undercover drug agent's body microphone didn't work. Today, trying for the third time, Bush's team scores the crack, but the camera operator videotaping the deal misses the action as a homeless person assaults him. (Bush should have just asked George Jr.)

Sep. 2. 1981: UN Human Rights Commission rules that Canada's Indian Act violates international human rights.

Sep. 3. 1970: Representatives from 27 African nations, the Caribbean nations, four South American countries, Australia, and the US meet in Atlanta, GA, for the first Congress of African People.

Sep. 4. 1982: Ten thousand dance on nuclear reactor site, Gorleben, West Germany.

Sep. 5. 1882: Thirty thousand workers march in the first US Labor Day parade in New York City.

Sep. 6. 1860: Jane Addams, suffragist and social and peace activist, born, Chicago. Founder of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and Hull House.

Sep. 7. 1954: Integration of public schools begins in Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD.

Sep. 8. 1883: Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake), main chief of the Lakota tribes, delivers a speech, at the celebration of the driving of the last spike in the transcontinental railroad system, to great applause. He delivers the speech in his Sioux language, departing from a speech originally prepared by an army translator. Denouncing the US government, settlers, and army, the listeners thought he was welcoming and praising them. While giving the speech, Sitting Bull paused for applause periodically, bowed, smiled, and continued insulting his audience as the translator delivered the original address.

Sep. 9. 1739: Slave revolt in Stono, South Carolina.

Sep. 10. 1945: Vidkun Quisling, puppet prime minister of German-occupied Norway, is sentenced to death in Norway. His name enters the English language, meaning "a traitor who collabortes with the invaders of his country, esp. by serving in a puppet government."