On August 21, 1980, animal rights advocates Ingrid Newkirk
(above) and Alex Pacheco (below) found People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. Rising from humble beginnings, PETA
will soon become the world’s foremost and most controversial
animal rights organization.
The modern United States received its crowning star when
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation
admitting (Native spelling: Hawai‘i) into the Union as the
50th state on this day in 1959.
The president also issued an order for an American flag
featuring 50 stars arranged in staggered rows: five six-
star rows and four five-star rows. The new flag became
official July 4, 1960.
On August 20, 1619, “20 and odd” Angolans, kidnapped by
the Portuguese, arrived in the British colony of Virginia and
are then bought by English colonists.
The arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World marked
the beginning of two and a half centuries of slavery in North
America.
