On February 12, 1909, the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, 
a group that included African American leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois 
and Ida B. Wells-Barnett announced the formation of a new organization 
Called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
it would have a profound effect on the struggle for civil rights and the
course of 20th Century American history. The conference that led to
the NAACP’s founding had been called in response to a race riot in
Illinois.

A silent march in New York to protest the police treatment of blacks during riots in East St. Louis in 1917. They marched down Fifth
Avenue on that summer Saturday without saying a word. 

MIKE GRACIA

Brace Beemer, center, with The Lone Ranger cast in the WXYZ radio
studios.

"The Lone Ranger" was aired on radio for the first time on this day in 1933. The show ran for 2,956 episodes and ended in 1955. The title character was played 
by George Seaton, Earle Graser, and Brace Beemer. Tonto was played by,
among others, John Todd and Roland Parker.

Francis Hamilton "Fran" Striker
(August 19, 1903 – September 4, 1962).

Fran Striker was a writer for radio and comics,
best known for creating the Lone Ranger,
Green Hornet, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon
characters.     

    
Franklin Delano Roosevelt  (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)   
(Last photograph of Roosevelt, taken the day before his death)
                                                    

Franklin Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member
of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and
became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th
century.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

An oil painting by American artist John Trumbull depicts the fatal wounding by bayonet of Brig. Gen. Hugh Mercer, center, at the
Battle of Princeton.

A younger Mercer Oak now stands where the original marked the
scene of the fatal wounding of Brig. Gen. Hugh Mercer.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Roosevelt to a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress on December 8,
1941, one day after the Empire of Japan’s attack on the U.S. naval
base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the Japanese declaration of war
on the United States and the British Empire.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Declaration of
War against Japan on December 8, 1941.

John Winston Lennon (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980)

ED DANAHUE

On this day in 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery,
AL, refused to give up her seat to a white man. Mrs. Parks was
arrested marking a milestone in the civil rights movement in the
U.S.      
      
      
    
  
 

    
   
The Cleveland Avenue bus Rosa Parks was riding when she was arrested. (Henry Ford Museum)

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005)